Harry Potter and the Town of Quadril
by Heroic
Summary: On Harry's fifteenth birthday the boy-who-lived narrowly escapes from the evil megalomaniac Voldemort and is forced to accept the help of a stranger. He is taken to a place unknown to him, and wizard kind. Our tragic hero finds himself unwanted and discr
1. Frozen

Chapter 1: Frozen

Privet Drive was a normal street, with normal residents, well maybe except for one. The occupants of this quaint street prided themselves as being 'normal'. They would keep their lawns neat and trimmed to the appropriate height. Their expensive cars stood gleaming in the summer sun, even their homes were nearly perfect. Any: chips in the paint, smudges on the window, or dirt on the home's perfect cement walkway, was severely looked down upon. This was the way things were on Privet Drive and anything or anyone that disagreed with this was outcast from the little community. They loved their little existence, but none so much as the Dursleys.

The Dursleys lived in Number 4 Privet Drive and they used to have the perfect life; as they saw it. The Dursley family was composed of Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, and their son Dudley Dursley. Hardly any one would notice the small skinny teen boy standing behind them. He wasn't a Dursley and proud of it. He really didn't conform to the usual status of Privet Drive and again he was proud of it. This boy was Harry Potter and he was anything but normal. He was the reason why the Dursley's didn't have their 'perfect' life. They didn't want the boy in their home but they didn't have a choice. Harry was their nephew. His parent's were killed when he was a year old and since then he has lived with a family that never wanted him.

There were many reasons why Harry didn't fit in at Privet drive but the most notable was his overall appearance. He was a skinny, well, down right skeletal compared to his cousin Dudley, who was a massive child. Harry usually compared Dudley to a beached whale. Something thought by the many who met the abnormally large boy. Harry's jet-black raven hair stood up at odd angles and would never lay flat. This was a constant annoyance to his relatives and he liked it. His clothes were far too baggy but that really wasn't his fault. The Dursley's refused to buy him any new clothes so he was stuck with the hand-me-downs of his large cousin. Another distinguishable characteristic of Harry Potter was his vibrant green eyes, which were often compared to his mothers, but the one thing that stood out most was his scare. A thin lightening bolt scar that was given to him the same night his parents died.

The Dursley's loath Harry because of what he was, rather than what he looked like. Harry Potter was a wizard. For the first ten years he lived at the Dursley's they tried to "Beat that nonsense out of him". Their attempts failed and on Harry's eleventh birthday Hagrid, Hogwarts grounds keeper, told him who he really was. Harry didn't believe it at first, but being a wizard wasn't the greatest shock to him that day. He also found out that he was famous in the wizarding world. Harry defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort when he was only a year old.

Harry has gone through four years of schooling at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. He had just finished his fourth year after competing in the Tri-Wizard tournament, which he won. This would have made any other student at Hogwarts jump for joy but Harry didn't. During that last task of the tournament he was transported to a decrepit graveyard with another contestant, Credic Diggory, who was killed by one of Voldemort's followers, Wormtail. That night Harry witnessed things no man should see, let a lone a fourteen-year-old boy. Harry witnessed another die and it wasn't the first time. He also saw Voldemort regain his body by using Harry's blood. The same scene has haunted his dreams ever since he returned to Privet Drive, but now he was trying to forget. Just for a moment. He needed to clear his head; he needed to get away from those horrible people that called themselves his 'family'.

Today was Harry's fifteenth birthday, and the Dursley's ignored it, or didn't know. He received many small gifts from his friends last night, as he usually did through the owl post and was grateful for it. From Ron he received another book on quidditch, which he decided to read later. As expect Hermione gave him a book, but this one he intended on reading. It was titled, "The art of Occlumency learn to protect your mind." The present he liked the most was from Sirius. At first he had no idea what it was. Then on closer inspection he found a note. Which told him it was a special money pouch, which became invisible when worn. Harry put all the Galleons into the pouch and strapped it to his belt loop. Instantly pouch faded, but he could still see an outline, like the note said. He also through in his Gringotts key for good measure.

Even though he really liked the gifts, he still felt bad about never having a proper birthday and now he just felt like being alone. The teen wandered through the many streets of Surrey, with a thin piece of finely crafted wood hidden in his sleeve. He carried his wand everywhere these days. Even though it was early afternoon he still feared an attack. Now that Voldemort was back and the ministry was refusing to believe it. He always kept his wand at the ready. He kept walking not really paying attention where he was going when he saw his cousin Dudley and his gang, smoking in the park. He watched for a moment as they sat on the swings, trying to act fearsome, but Harry wasn't fooled. He knew these boys; he knew what they were like in their homes. Especially his cousin, the infamous 'Big D', this is what his gang decided to call him. Harry knew better as his mothers more embarrassing names for him came to mind. Like Duddykins, that was Harry's favorite.

Harry didn't really want to start any trouble so he kept walking, 'Maybe by the time I come back they'll be gone' he thought to himself. He continued to walk as he heard a few of the occupants of the many homes whispering as he walked by. "Look at his clothes." They would say, "He must be a street rat," was his favorite, but tonight he didn't hear it. Harry was feared by many of the people near his home. His uncle had explained his absence from school by saying he was enrolled in St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boy's. Harry scoffed at the name. If his friends knew about this they wouldn't be too happy. As he thought about it, he found it rather funny. The Daily Prophet would have a field day. He could just see the headlines now, "The Boy-Who-Lived a known criminal amongst muggles". 'What rubbish' he thought.

Half an hour later Harry was making his way back towards the park where Dudley's gang sat. He hoped they wouldn't be there and for once he got his wish. The swings were empty and the repulsive boys were gone. He continued his way back to the neatly groomed Privet Drive when he heard someone yelling.

"HIT HIM AGAIN DUD." The angry voice screamed from behind. Moments later he heard a horrible crunch and a gut wrenching scream.

Harry turned around instantly heading towards the disturbance. He knew what Sirius would say, "Don't go looking for trouble now, keep your nose clean." Harry almost laughed. This coming from a man that is on the run from the law for a crime he didn't commit. A man known as the infamous Sirius Black, the dark lords most loyal death eater. This couldn't be further from the truth, but for some reason nearly everyone in the wizarding world believed it. Sirius was innocent; his friend Peter Pettigrew, a rat animagus, which betrayed Harry's mother and father for his master, Lord Voldemort, framed him. Harry hated the little man, the rat and knew one day he would get what was coming to him.

Running back towards the noise Harry noticed something. He seemed to be going much faster then he normally would have, it seemed as if the air was pushing him along. As if it was helping him run. Within seconds he reached an awful sight. Dudley and his gang had a young boy held by his arms in a dark alley, which was strange, because there was sunlight everywhere else. He was ten, maybe eleven. Dudley was standing in front of him ready to throw another punch. His fist was cocked, and his face held what seemed to be a slight smile. Just as the fist made it's way towards the boy's bloody face Harry called out.

"STOP"

Dudley turned around to see his thin, weak looking cousin standing alone. The gang snickered as they saw him. A small rat faced boy, Piers Polkiss, turned to him with a smirk and said, "I guess we have another for our game. Don't we Big D?"

Harry watched as Dudley trying to decide what to do next. He knew Harry was a wizard but he also knew Harry wasn't allowed to do magic during the summer. He could beat his cousin to a bloody pulp and his family wouldn't care. "What if Harry uses magic?" he thought to himself. Harry almost laughed as the confused expression passed the plump face of his cousin. He could almost hear what Dudley thinking and had to use all his self-control not to start laughing.

Piers was looking confused and turned back to Dudley, "Big D? Aren't you going to grab him?"

Then and there Dudley knew he had to make a decision and fast. He knew that if he didn't go after Harry he would lose face in front of his 'friends' and he couldn't allow that to happen. So he gave the order.

"Grab him." He said with his voice shaking slightly.

Harry didn't expect this; he thought that Dudley was going to back down. He thought that Harry having the ability to do magic and Dudley knowing was enough to insure him a way out of this without a fight, but he was wrong. He knew that he couldn't use his wand, which would almost guarantee his expulsion. Minister Fudge hadn't been all that happy with him when he told him what happened after he came back from the graveyard.

Harry didn't have too much time to react as four boys his age, but much bigger tried to grab him. He moved to avoid their advance and his Quidditch reflexes took over. He moved with almost supernatural speed. He knew he was fast but this was different. This was much faster then he thought he could move. His dazed look only lasted a second as the boys came at him again. Harry dodged another attack. Now he could see that they were getting frustrated.

"Slow down so I can pound you." Screamed a tall gangly boy, with a face covered in blemishes.

Harry just smirked and said, "Hey, you know I think I'll stick with my own plan thanks." Just as another boy snuck up behind him. Acting on pure instinct Harry turned around pushing one hand onto the boy's chest, while his foot snaked behind the boy's legs. Effectively sending him back a few feet tumbling to the ground.

Dudley's gang seemed to lose their confidence. They had fought many little skirmishes but not once did someone actually put up a good fight. Not once did one of their gang members fall to the ground, and here it happened. A thin boy that they used to torment regularly did the one thing they didn't think possible. He made them fear him.

Harry was still trying to dodge another boy's punch when he heard a familiar crack. It caused him to lose his concentration and the Polkiss boy landed a punch squarely on Harry's jaw. For a second everything went black for Harry as he heard the boy cry out in triumph.

Upon opening his eyes Harry saw Dudley and the four other boys standing over him. Dudley was the first to speak.

"You let the kid get away, now you have to take his place." He said in a cold icy tone. That might have scared most people when confronting a bully but Harry wasn't like most people, and there was something much worse behind them.

Harry's eyes focused on the man standing behind the hooligan's. He was a tall man dressed in a black hooded robe that hid most of his face. The only thing that could be seen from under it was long black hair and the tip of a crooked nose. Harry couldn't help but recognized that face, even if it wasn't completely exposed he knew that man anywhere.

"Hello Professor." Harry said as he looked passed his massive cousin. That was actually a lot harder then it seems since Dudley could be described as a movable wall. Speaking of Dudley he slowly turned around to see the wizard standing behind him. He didn't know that the man really didn't like Harry but he did know he was a wizard and that was enough.

Dudley took off running with his hands firmly clasped around his massive backside as he and his gang went running down the streets of Surrey screaming, "Mommmmyyyy!!!!!!"

Slowly rising to his feet Harry brushed off his clothes and turned to face his potions master. "Good evening professor. What brings you to Surrey?" Harry asked in an overly kind, mocking tone.

"Don't be stupid, you know the reason I'm here is you. Why else would I come to this place?" Snape said as he looked around with a expression of disgust. Harry didn't answer he just looked back at Snape. He knew the disgruntle potions master still had a few more insults left in him, but to his surprise Snape didn't. He seemed to calm himself, which scared Harry the most.

"We have to get back to your house. Dumbledore sent me when he found out you were no longer home. What do you think you were doing leaving the house?" Snape snarled.

"Sorry Professor but I was under the impression that I wasn't in prison." Harry said keeping his voice in monotone.

"Don't give me that Potter, you know how much danger you're in with the Dark Lord back, even I didn't think you were this stupid."

The rest of the conversation went like that all the way back to Privet Drive. Harry kept a look out for anything suspicious on the way there. He knew that there must be something happening if Dumbledore sent Snape to see him. What worried him the most is if it was with Voldemort then why would he send Snape? Professor Snape was a Death Eater spy. If Voldemort were going to attack somewhere wouldn't Snape have to go along with them to prove his 'loyalty' to Lord Voldemort?

As the reached to front walkway Harry took notice that his potions professor didn't stop, he continued with him up the walkway. "Er…Sir, I don't believe you would be welcome here. My uncle is really against all forms of magic, including the wizard that uses it."

"I don't really care what you're uncle thinks. I'm under strict orders to bring you into the house until someone else arrives to take you away from here." Snape stated as they reached the front door.

Harry just nodded, he was dreading to hear what his uncle had to say but he couldn't help but feel relieved. 'I'm leaving' he thought. Just then the door swung open revealing Harry's uncle. A bulky man with a small neck was standing in front of Harry wearing an expression of utter disgust. Harry looked over his shoulder to see where Snape went. He was standing just off to the side of Harry hidden within the shadows.

"What do you think you're doing coming back here after what you did to Dudley? He's in his room scared to death." He roared, and then he noticed the neighbors looking out their windows and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Heaven help me if you cursed him with that thing of yours. I'll do worse then have you expelled boy. You'd never leave you're room and there's nothing those freaks could do about it."

Harry was furious, especially being threatened by this narrow-minded oversized git. "What I did to Dudley? Yeah I guess avoiding a few punches from his gang would have seriously injured his psyche, if he had enough brains to develop one. And as for cursing him, I didn't. If I did he'd look a lot more like his true self, A PIG."

This was just too much for Vernon Dursley to handle. Not only has this little freak insulted his son, twice, he also mentioned his abnormality to the entire neighborhood. He reached back his hand and swung at the boy. Instantly Harry reacted moving away from the blow sure to knock him to the ground, but it never came. Professor Snape stepped in front of Harry and grabbed Vernon by the arm. Firmly holding his hand away from the boy.

"What…who…You're one of them, get away from my house. I won't STAND FOR THIS." He screamed.

"I am Professor Snape. I've come here to take Harry away from your house. You and you're family are in danger as long as he stays here so he'll be leaving." Professor Snape stated in an icy tone.

Vernon just stood there with a shocked look on his face. He didn't move, didn't blink, Harry could swear the man stopped breathing. Until Snape said, "Thank you sir for inviting us in." as he pushed Vernon inside and slammed the door shut as Harry slide in behind him.

From the kitchen Harry saw his Aunt Petunia peek her head out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Once she saw the tall man dressed in all black accompanied by Harry she screamed. Snape reacted instantly by using a silencing charm on her and mumbled something Harry could only guess was 'muggles'.

Once she noticed that no sound was coming from her she seemed to calm down a bit. Snape instructed them to sit down while he explained everything to them. He told Harry to gather his things while he talked to them.

Harry ran upstairs and burst into his room. He packed everything with lightening speed and luckily Hedwig, his snowy owl was just getting back from one of her nighttime outings. He put her in her cage and headed downstairs. The sight he saw startled him to say the least. Professor Snape was caring on a seemingly pleasant conversation with his aunt and uncle. Vernon was in the middle of a story about his drill company while Petunia was nodding and smiling.

Harry walked over to Snape and whispered, "What have you done to them, sir?"

Snape looked up at him, gave him his trademark smirk, and said, "A cheering potion always lightens the mood."

Harry did his best to suppress a laugh but he couldn't help it. Just then there was a knock on the door. Vernon said, "Harry could you be a good boy and answer that for me?"

Trying to contain his shock Harry just nodded and headed to the front door. As he neared his scar began to tingle. The pain slowly got worse. Harry knew this wasn't a good sign. He looked out the window and saw the one face he'd never like to see again. The snake like features, the lack of nose and lips, the bright red eyes, Voldemort was standing on his front lawn.

Shrouded in darkness as he should be the man was smiling. His wand was raised pointing at the wooden door separating Harry from him. Harry watched as Voldemort said the incantation and watched as the spell shot toward the front door, shattering it. Harry was blown back against the stairs. The only thing he could do was to warn Snape and his relatives. He knew Voldemort only wanted him. "Get out, he's here" Harry screamed.

"Always playing the hero Harry?" A high-pitched voice hissed. "Well I'm sorry that it won't help you or them this time. There's no escaping me Harry, I AM LORD VOLDEMORT." With that he pointed his wand at Harry and said, "Avada Kedavra." Right then Harry knew his life was over; there was nothing he could do. No escape, he just wished everything would freeze. "Stop he kept thinking, not now, not yet. I need for this to STOP." He closed his eyes as he saw the green light, and the unmistakable sound of death rushing towards him. He waited for it, and waited but nothing. Slowly he cracked one eye, opened, then his other. Instantly his eyes widened to see a miniature bright green grim reaper with its razor sharp sickle inches away from his chest.

Voldemort stood above him with his face contorted into a twisted smile. He thought that he'd won. Harry moved out of the deaths path and looked around the scene in front of him. Everything was covered in a thin layer of ice. The: chairs, lamps, fireplace, and even Voldemort. Harry took quick notice that his relatives were no longer there. "Snape must have had a portkey." He thought.

After a few stunned moments Harry tried to formulate a plan. He needed to get away and he had to do it fast. Harry rushed over to his trunk to move it, but nothing happened. It wouldn't budge. Just as Harry was about to leave he heard a roar of a fire and turned around.

There stood a man of average height that looked in his early thirties, dressed in deep crimson robes. Above the robes he wore a dark red, nearly black, leather vest. With an elaborate bow, and quiver of arrows slung across his back. His hair was spiked and dyed (or it seemed to be dyed) to look like flames. His eyes were bright orange with specs of red and yellow mixed in. The man surveyed the area before as he walked towards Harry and said, "Now this is something new."

Harry didn't know what to do, he just wanted to get away from the frozen Voldemort but his curiosity got the best of him. "Sorry sir, but what's new?"

"A wizard elemental, and a fairly strong one at that. How old are you son, and when is your birthday?" asked the red haired man.

"I'm fifteen sir, and my birthday is today July thirty first. And what's an elemental? If you don't mind my asking"

"Amazing, fifteen." He paused for a moment as if pondering something. "You should come with me and we'll discuss that later. I don't think this will last much longer." He said as he pointed towards Voldemort.

Harry considered his options. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get away from Voldemort. He didn't really know this man but he knew him well enough to know he couldn't be as bad a Voldemort.

"Where would we be going sir?"

"To Quadril, and stop with all the Sir stuff. My name is Blaze and for now you'll remain Harry, but that won't last long I'm sure."

"Yes, si…Blaze, but wait how'd you know my…?" Harry asked.

"There's no time, he'll be free any second now, I'll explain later."

"Alright, can I grab my things?" Harry asked still trying to find a reason not to trust this man who called himself an elemental.

"That you can't do, if anything is moved it will undo what you've done. I'm sure you won't need them anyway. Now stand by me and we'll be off." Said Blaze. Harry not seeing another option, and not knowing how long Voldemort would remain is his Popsicle form. He complied. Blaze responded by putting his hand on Harry's shoulder and with a burst of deep blue flames, they were gone, and Voldemort was freed.

The snake like man thawed and watched with a great satisfaction as the stairs erupted in green flames as the killing curse drove through the wood steps. He flicked his wand and the flames ceased. He peered through the smoke with his blood red eyes which held the look of satisfaction as he expected to see the dead body of the bloody-boy-who-finally-died. His expression changed almost instantly as he saw nothing but a crater in the wood. No body, no boy, nothing. He failed to kill Harry Potter again.

Voldemort stayed a second longer surveying the scene. He couldn't explain what happened. Lucius assured him the wards were down and the boy was defenseless, but now he knew the man was lying. The only thought on the Dark Lords mind was, "Malfoy will PAY."


	2. Tattoos

Chapter 2: Tattoos

The second the flames began to grow Harry felt an intense heat as his world faded. Almost instantly he could feel his body move, flying through space, powered by an unknown force. For that one moment he thought he made a horrible mistake, but then it stopped, the fire ceased and he was standing in the center of an intricate stone structure. He looked around a moment and saw a large fire shaped symbol carved into the dark grey stones.

"Come on Harry, this is just a landing place. Similar to a wizards fire place for flooing." Blaze said as he lead Harry out of a small opening in the grey stoned structure.

Whatever Harry could have possible expected to see as he left the extremely large version of a floo, it wasn't this. His eyes scanned a mossy stone path that lead to a small market place hidden beneath a magnificent green canopy. It was like seeing Hogwarts for the first time again. 'It's amazing how seeing one area can change your perspective of the world' He thought gazing into the wonderland before him.

The market seemed to blend into its forest like surroundings, shops and corner stores were composed of bright wood and large stone pillars. Each structure looked as if it was grown, not built. The narrow pathways leading from shop to shop connected to one large cobblestone road that forked out of sight. Many small creeks and brooks interrupted the stone path. As small wooden bridges, which seemed to mold into the earth, allowed people to pass without added difficulty.

Men, women, and children were dressed in all shades of blue, white, red, and green. Their hair and eyes seemed to match their outfits perfectly just as Blaze's did. Many of the younger children carried plain looking bows, and small wooden swords. As did the adults and teenagers, but theirs were actual weapons, not for practice. The weapons they carried were magnificent. Made from all different types of metal. 'Another question to ask' He thought. Harry scanned the area trying to find one person dressed like himself. It took him a few second, but he finally did. A small girl that looked around the age of five sat on a light stone bench that over looked a small brook running through the center of town.

Blaze who had been watching Harry closely, decided it was time for him to explain a few things to the young man. Especially when he saw the look of confusion when he spotted Angelia.

"Harry, it's not polite to stare." Blaze said with a slight smirk.

Harry instantly turned around to see the smiling elemental and said, "I…I didn't mean to…I was just wondering why they're all dressed like that and she isn't."

"Dressed like what?" Blaze said in an offended tone, as he watched Harry's discomfort. The young man looked as if he was going to apologize, but Blaze said. "I'm just joking, you're really way too easy to upset. We're dressed like this because it feels the most comfortable. As we develop our elemental skills our appearance changes. As you can see from my appearance I'm a fire elemental." He said rather proudly. "First you'll notice little things like what type of clothes you wear, then your hair will change, and lastly your eye color. It's just a matter of time."

"So I'll soon find an affinity to wear all red?" Harry asked with one eyebrow cocked.

Blaze gave a slight chuckle and said, "I don't really know about that, but you will find it hard not to wear a color that has to do with your elemental abilities. Come on let's find a place to talk. I know this is going to be a long explanation."

Harry just nodded and followed Blaze as he walked down past the many small shops and businesses. Blaze led Harry to a clearing just beyond the main market place that had a few benches and a water fountain made by a talented couple. One being a water elemental and the other an earth.

From the look Harry gave him Blaze decided this was a good enough spot to continue their talk. "From what I saw at your house you are definitely a water elemental, and a strong one at that, but you could have control over another element as well. Very few, if any of our strongest elementals could have done what you did today." Harry gave him a puzzled look, "You see the later in life an elemental gains his or her power the stronger they become."

"Why isn't it the other way around? I mean wouldn't it make more sense that the less time it takes for the powers to manifest, the greater time one has to develop them?" Harry asked feeling slightly confused.

"Well that is a good question." Blaze said after pausing, trying to think of the best way to explain this. "Try to imagine it like this. When you're born you have a small flame inside you, and each day you grow older, it grows stronger. Then one day it stops and stays one size. You'll be able to use it and keep it burning, but it will never get any stronger, or hotter than it was the first day it stopped growing. Does that make sense?"

Harry gave him a blank look and just slowly nodded.

"The size your body allowed it to grow to determines how strong of an elemental you'll actually be." Blaze finished ignoring Harry's inability to understand him.

"So how old are most elementals when they start showing their powers?' Harry asked.

"Most of us start showing signs of being an elemental on our third birthday. A few make it past age four and it's almost unheard of past the age of six. There have only been four elementals that discovered their powers after that age and they built this town. Well five counting you."

Harry listened intently as Blaze made his speech under the calming branches of an ancient weeping willow. He was starting to understand, but if it was true, than he was going to become a very powerful elemental.

Blaze seemed to read Harry thoughts and asked him, "Is today the first day you've done anything like this, the freezing I mean."

"Yeah it is. I noticed something else odd today too. When I was running I found it much easier, and could tell I was going much faster then I should have been. Does that have something to do with this too?" Harry asked.

"Air elemental. That's a really strange combination." Blaze said, and seeing the question forming on Harry's lips he decided to continue. "You see elementals usually have the ability to control only one element. Very few can control two and when that happens it's usually the same combination, actually it's always the same combinations. It's either Air with Fire or Water with Earth. I don't think in our entire history there's been an air and water elemental."

"Great another thing that makes me famous." Harry mumbled angrily.

"Two actually, not only are you the only known elemental with a water and air combination. You are also the oldest elemental to discover your power. Congrats mate." Said Blaze barely containing a laugh.

Harry didn't think it was all that funny until he saw Blaze trying to maintain a straight face. "Oh ha ha very funny." Said Harry as Blaze laughed harder. Harry enjoyed Blaze's company. The man was a lot more relaxed then most adults he knew. He actually reminded him a lot of the Weasley twins. 'If all the people here are like Blaze I might actually get along with them until I get to go home.' Harry thought.

Harry didn't notice that Blaze had gotten up, as he was lost in his own thoughts. Blaze looked down at him and said, "Well you better get up, I've been told to bring you to see the Elders. We need to get to you settled."

"Settled?" Harry asked

"Yeah we need to find you a home to stay in." Blaze said.

"Wait…a home, I thought I was just coming here. I can't stay here my friends will worry. I need to get back. I have to contact them, they'll think that Voldemort has me." Harry said really quickly so Blaze couldn't put in an objection until he was finished.

"Whoa, slow down there kid, everything will be okay. We'll let you send one letter telling them that you're safe. You can't tell them where you are though. No one must know." Blaze said as they walked down the main cobble stone path. Harry was unaware of the curious stares, and seemingly hateful glances, in his direction.

"Why can't I tell them where I am? And why do I have to stay here?" Harry asked.

"You can't tell them where you are because we don't want anyone to know where we are. No wizard can find us; we've hidden ourselves from them because it's what we wanted to do. The powers we use bind us to nature. We've watched what many wizards have done to other magical beings, and it's atrocious. Take the Centaurs for example, wizards treat them as if they're less than human, we don't want that to happen to us. Actually we don't want that to happen to them either. That is why we keep an open contact with all magical creatures, but I'm getting a little off topic." Blaze said and he paused for a second, "The answer to your second question is simple. If you leave here without being trained you'll die."

"What? Why would I die?" Harry asked

"The abilities that manifested within you are very powerful. If you're not taught how to use them, how to control them, they'll consume you. Part of my job here is to keep a look out for any elemental activity. If I find someone then I'm supposed to bring them back here to be looked after and trained."

Harry didn't know what to say, he just stood there shocked. 'If Blaze didn't find me, I could have died.' Harry kept thinking over and over. Harry began to feel indebted to this man.

The pair walked past all the various shops, to Harry's disappointment. He wanted to see if they were anything like the shops in Diagon Alley. They continued up a slight incline that continued to grow until it's fairly high peak. Once reaching the top Harry could see part of Quadril, tucked into a luscious green valley. It seemed to be divided into four different areas, represented by different types of trees. In the North stood a mass of Red Maple, that were actually glowing in the mid day sun, almost as if the trees were set ablaze. The western corner was filled with ancient Willow trees, hiding everything below them under their wide canopies. To the east a forest of white and silver Russian olive trees danced playfully on their own. Closest to Harry and Blaze a thick rippling forest of blue Atlas maple swayed gently below them. In the center of the four sections the town's market place seemed to be a mixture of the four trees and colors.

Blaze didn't notice Harry had stopped until he was a few paces ahead. He was going to interrupt but he let Harry stare for a little longer. After a minute or so Harry turned to Blaze with a very puzzled expression, "Why is everything so divided?" he asked.

"Well it's not really divided as it seems, but the trees did grow that way. No one really knows why, but they did, and like I said before. Elementals feel more comfortable living around colors that represent their element. I think this is just the way mother-nature intended it to be." He said and that diminished Harry's curiosity for a moment.

Blaze began walking again and Harry followed obediently, lost in his thoughts. The walk didn't last more than fifteen minutes and Harry soon found himself staring at an enormous stonewall, with two large doors covered in ancient runes.

"This Harry is The Guild." Blaze said as the came closer to the large doors.

"The what?"

"The Guild is our training area."

"Oh." Was Harry's only response.

"Now there's a few things you must know about The Guild, are you listening carefully?" He asked suddenly turning serious.

"Yes sir." Harry responded immediately to the more adult tone Blaze had given him and for once Blaze didn't think calling him 'sir' was odd.

"Good. Now the rules are very important. Always be respectful to everyone within The Guild. Always call someone by his or her proper title. In most cases it is Mentor, but since you know no one, Sir and Ma'am will do for now. Rule number two, never speak unless spoken to, unless you are of a higher rank, which you aren't. Rule number three, listen to the Elders, and listen to the Mentors, they will help guide you. Are you still with me?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied feeling a little more nervous about the formality of The Guild.

"There are many rules, but those are the ones you need for now. The others will be explained when they are necessary. Is that also clear?"

Harry merely nodded his head. Feeling a little anxiety.

"Good, now time flows a little differently within The Guild, actually, it almost stops. It might take a moment for you to adjust, but it won't be horrible."

"Er…Yes sir, but in what way?" Harry asked.

"The Guild was built so during your training you don't lose time. In other words you can train for a day within The Guild and only a minute will have passed in real time…" Blaze paused for a second, then said, "There are problems though…"

"Problems, sir?"

"Yes, just one really, during the time you train you won't really feel tired. You won't really feel your muscles burn, just a dull ache, but the moment you leave." He gave let out an odd chuckle. "It's like having a boulder dropped on you. Everything you did that day comes crashing down. It takes a little getting used to, but it's dead useful when it comes to training. Any other questions?"

Harry opened his mouth to say something, then just closed it again and shook his head.

"Great and one last thing…Elves aren't related to house elves, and don't forget that." With that Blaze placed his left hand on a large rune and his right on an intricate carving of the Celtic Tree of Life. For a second nothing happened then slowly a golden light began to pulse through the wooden doors, slowly consuming it. Then with a brilliant flash of golden light, the doors faded. Leaving a large opening in the seemingly endless wall.

Harry expected to see a castle entrance, a brick path, or at the very least more land, but what he saw was a glowing golden mist floating in front of them. Blaze turned to him and said, "Alright just walk through. I'll go first." And with that he walked through. Harry looked a little apprehensive but followed all the same.

Blaze stumbled through the mist waiting for Harry on the other side. He knew how disorienting it felt to cross the threshold the first time. So he went first to catch Harry. Every human that has ever passed through fainted the first time. It wasn't something to be ashamed of, it just happened. So when Harry walked through under his own power and only wobbled a bit when he walked over to Blaze. The fire elemental was amazed.

"Well that's interesting." Harry mumbled under his breath as he looked back at the billowing mist behind him. Harry gained his footing and looked to Blaze, who seemed to be dumbstruck. "Is everything alright sir?" Harry inquired.

Blaze mentally shook himself before saying, "Yeah, I'm fine Harry. How do you feel?"

"A little woozy." He answered truthfully. "Does that happen every time you pass through?"

"It gets better." Blaze answered. He decided not to tell Harry anything about what should have happened, until later. "Follow me." He said, as he turned away and motioned for Harry to follow.

Harry noticed that he was no longer in a field, and no longer surrounded by trees. He was standing in what seemed to be a fortress. He looked around to find large room filled with weapons and armor. Not an armory, but similar. The stone walls gave of a slight ethereal glow, that dimly pulsated. Harry moved closer too touch it when Blaze interrupted his exploring.

"Harry we must keep going. We're scheduled to speak with the Elders soon, and there's still a few things I must tell you about the ritual."

"Ritual?" Harry asked feeling a little more than nervous.

"Yes, but it's really nothing to worry about. It does sting a little bit, and take a little while but it's necessary."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Well it's a test really, but not in the traditional sense. You don't have to do anything. The only thing you have to do is sit on a pedestal with you shirt off. The Elders will initiate the ritual. It's just done to test your elemental control and power."

"How does it do that?" Harry asked sensing there was more to this story than Blaze had let on.

"The Elders will put a small amount of power into the ancient circle and it will determine your power."

"And how does it do that?" Harry urged.

"By marking you. That's the part that stings a bit. The Circle will leave something like a tattoo on your arm. It's nothing too bad. It's going to appear near your shoulder of your dominant hand. It's our way of classifying an elemental. It will show the level of control you'll have and what type of elements you control"

"So I just get a tattoo, that's it?"

"Well not really. The tattoo is an important marking; it will help determine your elemental control. There are many factors that will show how skilled you are or can be." Said Blaze. Harry just gave him a look that told him he should continue.

"The first but least important is the time it takes for the markings to appear. The faster they appear the easier you'll be able to connect to your element. This is an advantage, but you can always learn how to connect to your element through meditation." Blaze said as he looked to Harry to see if he was listening. Seeing that he was Blaze continued.

"The second is the detail the image holds. Each tattoo will vary from person to person but the amount of detail put into it will determine how much you can actually do with the element. The third factor is how large the mark actually is. Nearly all markings are the same size the only difference is how far it wraps around the arm. The longer the band, the longer you'll be able to control your element without tiring. The fourth factor is the color. Usually the tattoo takes on one or two colors that represent the element. The more color, the more of your own power you can put into the element. Are you still with me?" Blaze asked before continuing.

"Yes sir, time, detail, size, and color." Harry stated to show he understood.

"Great, now the last but definitely not least is the movement of the tattoo. It isn't unusual for the tattoo to flicker, or change color, but true movement is nearly unheard of. The amount of movement the tattoo has the further away you can control your element. For instance, most elementals can control their element ten to fifteen meters away. The more the tattoo moves the further away you can control it. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah pretty much, but I do have one more question."

"What's that?"

"May I see your tattoo? Just to get a feel of what it is." Harry asked.

Blaze looked at the boy for a second then said, "I guess, but the marking is usually a very personal thing. Even though everyone has to have a patch of their tattoo warn on their training robes, but that isn't the same. To show someone you must have to trust them." Blaze said as he slowly lifted his sleeve.

At first Harry was shocked to have gained the fire elementals trust so quickly. He really hadn't done much with the man, but Blaze still seemed to trust him, and he was happy about that. As Blaze slid his sleeve up, Harry could see the image of deep red brawn sword, which had small yellow and orange flames slowly moving up and down the blade. Behind the sword a large shield of light blue and orange wrapped around the man's arm.

"Wow" was the only statement Harry could manage.

"As you can see my mark, has a slight movement." Said Blaze as he pointed towards the flames that slowly licked the length of the blade.

Blaze rolled down his sleeve and said, "Well we better hurry we don't want to get there after the Elders, it wouldn't be respectful. Come on now, follow me."

Harry followed Blaze silently as he studied his surroundings. The pair walked out of the main halls towards a door that led outside. As they walked the sounds of swords clanging, young people shooting, and slight explosions, rumbled and echoed through the ancient Halls.

Blaze opened a large oak door and sunlight filtered through. They walked out into the main training fields as Harry senses were overwhelmed. The first smell he recognized was freshly cut grass, which reminded him of Quidditch. He looked towards the sky expecting to see blue, but was surprised to see the same swirling mist he first walked through. It was giving off the light he saw, not the sun. As he studied, Blaze continued on. Harry could see young people practicing archery, and others controlling their elements behind protective wards. 'This is going to be interesting,' he thought.

A few second later Harry's eyes fell upon their destination. In the center of the fields stood a cathedral like building. It had high towers and beautiful stained glass windows, which each portrayed a different element.

Harry and Blaze walked into the cathedral like room, and the first thing Harry noticed was the raised platform at the fair end of the room. The platform represented all of the elements respectively. The base was created from a light granite, that seemed to grow from the floor, as small plants, and ivy circled it. A light flow of water trickled off the surface and slowly fell below, disappearing into a wall of fire. What was the most interesting was slight mist that surrounded it. 'That must be the representation of air.' Harry thought. The only thing Harry couldn't place was the slight glow, which emanated from the platform.

The next thing Harry noticed had to be what Blaze referred to as 'The Circle'. Carved into the light stone, was an intricate representation of the Celtic Tree of Life. It was modified only slightly. Five points seemed to be added to the outside rim of the circle. Each with it's own symbol. Harry quickly identified four of the five, but the carving of a hand eluded him. In the very center of the circle a large smooth stone was suspended in the air. It was being held by what seemed to be a jet of water, a cyclone of air, and column of fire.

Blaze told Harry not to approach the circle until the Elders told him it was safe to do so. Not long after the door to the right of the podium slowly opened revealing an elderly man with nearly clear white eyes, dressed in a dazzling white robe. His long white hair flowed past his shoulders to the middle of his back. He walked with unprecedented grace, which made him seem to be floating, but Harry was sure his feet were touching the ground. The man surveyed Harry for a second then gave a slight smile, before taking a seat at the far end of the platform.

The next person to enter the room was an elderly woman with bright red hair, and equally bright eyes. It was almost eerie to see another person with blood red eyes beside Voldemort, but these eyes held kindness and understanding. Nothing like the evil and hate seen upon the snake like face of Lord Voldemort. She was dressed in a similar style to the first man, except in deep reds, yellows, and a touch of orange.

Moments after a man slightly younger looking than the rest entered. His dark brown, almost black eyes fell upon Harry with disgust. He had long brown hair that was neatly tied in a ponytail. He was dressed in a brown robe, with a green collar. Harry had a bad feeling about this man, yet he felt the need to respect him, just like the others before him.

The last elemental to enter was a woman that looked in her mid-eighties. She had dark blue, flowing hair, which seemed to be rippling as she walked. Her stride was calm and collected, just like her piercing sapphire blue gaze. She wore a deep blue robe that shimmered slightly as she moved. Her face held no emotions towards Harry like the others had.

Harry began to study each Elder, waiting and watching for them to make the next move when another person walked in through the large oak doors. This time the person did not look old, did not share the others affinity for elemental attire, he didn't even look human. He was much taller and seemed to be much younger than the others. If Harry had to guess he'd say he was around fifty years of age. He had pale skin that almost seemed to glow in the low light of the cathedral. His hair was almost clear, but his eyes where his most astounding feature. They were a slight purple, which was visibly glowing in the dim light. His ears were visible through his clear, long hair, and held a slight point. This was the Elder Elf.

After the Elders were seated, an awkward silence descended upon the seven occupants, but this didn't last long. The annoyed looking earth elemental spoke first, slicing through the tension. "Why have you brought us this wand waver….this filth…this _wizard_." He spat 'wizard' as if it was the most foul of all insults.

Blaze bowed his head slightly as he spoke, showing respect towards the leaders of the guild. "The boy has shown his first signs of control earlier today. I have brought him here to be taught our ways, to be trained." Blaze replied with confidence, yet the utmost respect.

"Are you sure of this?" The earth Elder said. "His _kind_ has never been anything but a plague of the earth. Surely the Earth Mother would not endow this _wizard_ with our gifts."

"I'm quite certain Elder Vaughn…" The earth Elder made a slight 'humph' before blaze continued. "He has shown power and control beyond all of our known water elementals." He looked to the Blue haired Elder. "No offence meant Elder Brook."

The water elemental bowed her head towards Blaze and replied, "None taken." In a calm yet skeptical tone.

"So you accept the _wizard_ Marlene?" Asked Elder Vaughn.

"I do. If he is an elemental and if we don't train him, his death will be on our hands. I can't live with that…can you?" She asked him, even though she knew his answer.

"He is a wizard. Sub-Human…"

"So that warrants him a death sentence?" Asked the air Elder, in a slightly modified tone.

"We'd be better off without his kind. I don't see why it would…."

"You're ignorant prejudice is not valid here. That should never effect your decisions. Now do we agree that the boy is to be tested?" Asked the Elder elf.

All of the Elders nodded except Elder Vaughn, who just sat staring into Harry's vibrant green eyes. "I guess we should. It will be great to see the circle consume him when he is deemed…unworthy." Said the man with an evil glint in his eyes.

Harry was a little nervous now. Blaze hadn't really discussed what happened during this ritual, just the out come. He didn't want to be 'consumed' as Elder Vaughn had so bluntly put it.

Each Elder moved towards Harry, they each took a place near their symbol. "Would you please remove your shirt son, and step into the circle when we say?" Asked the Elder Elf.

"Yes Elder." Replied Harry.

Each elder took a knee and placed the palm of their hand on the stone markings. Slowly, each one gathered their power and released it into the stone. The five different forms of magic, of life, trailed through the carving towards the center. Harry watched in amazement as the energy reached the center and gave off a blinding flash.

"You may now remove your shirt and step into the circle." Said the Air Elder.

Harry removed Dudley's old, oversized castaway and moved into the circle. He took a tentative step and another flash of energy 'jumped' from the pedestal into Harry. He felt a slight tingle then a feeling of warmth and acceptance.

"You may now move to the center, and sit." Said the Fire Elder.

Harry did as he was told and took a seat on the pedestal. Once there he expected something to happen but nothing did, he just bobbed up and down while the Elders began to talk.

"Well at least he didn't die." Said the elf Elder.

"Yeah what a shame. Now we just have to sit here for hours to see what miniscule control the boy has. I mean the least we have to wait is five minutes, but you know we'll be here all day for some…." Said Elder Vaughn, but he was cut off when a swirl of water surrounded Harry.

The small stream started to form at the base of the circle moving up around the boy and never disconnecting from the ground. Once it reached Harry the water began to change shape. Slowly morphing into a snake. A pattern of scales began to show from the base, rapidly moving towards the tip. The water continued to twist around Harry as it began to take on a more recognizable shape. First the tail, then the midsection, and finally the head took its form. Once the head was finished shaping Harry didn't want this tattoo. He knew the snake, and it would never leave his thoughts. The water formed a Basilisk.

The snake turned towards Harry. It's face floating inches from his own. It's normally deadly gaze held something of kindness. Not of death, fear, or hate, but a wanting to be accepted. Harry could feel the snake was nothing like the Basilisk he'd seen before and bowed his head towards the snake, as it did the same. The Basilisk turned away from Harry and started to wrap around his left arm. The snake began to coil, slowly adding pressure before the pain started. At first all Harry could think about was the pain, but it faded as quickly as it came. He looked down at his arm once again to see the snake sitting there eyeing him. It flicked its tongue and circled his arm. "Great it's alive." He thought.

To say Elder Brook was amazed, would be an extreme understatement. She was down right awestruck. Not in all her years had she seen a marking as complex, as beautiful, and yet, as deadly as Harry's. 'He I must train.' She thought.

Before anyone could move, a slight breeze began to form. A cloud of white mist flowed around Harry until it rushed above him making his hair stand on end. He watched with amazement as the cloud began to form. The first thing that was recognizable was a large wingspan. Brilliant feathery wings flapped gently as the air became more solid. It was only seconds before a body took shape followed by an eagle like head. Harry liked this form. It held something of happier thoughts. The Hippogriff flapped its wings gently before Harry, waiting for him to make the first move. Harry took a deep bow without breaking eye contact. Almost immediately the Hippogriff returned the bow flew straight towards Harry leaving a trail of wispy feathers in its wake. The form flew into Harry's right arm, and again he felt the same pain, which faded just like before.

He looked down at the tattoo to see the Hippogriff looking towards him. The mass of its form was centered on his thin arm, but the wings wrapped around it as they moved up and down. Long trails of feathers were also easily visible slowly swirling down Harry's arm, as if they were caught in a slight breeze.

The second the tattoo was absorbed and slow rumble was heard emanating from the circle. There was a collective gasp of, "That's not possible" from everyone but Harry. The rumble turned to a roar as a layer of orange flames seeped through the stone. They moved towards each other forming a pile. At first there was nothing, just a lump of flames. Then a small bright blue head poked through. Instantly Harry new this form. This was going to be a phoenix. The baby phoenix looked to Harry then spread it's near bare wings. It flapped once and instantly it had gained its feathers. With another flap it was eye level with Harry. It let out an inaudible screech and flew around Harry. Circling him twice then flying into his back. The pain was extremely intense. Much worse then the other two, but it faded just as quickly. He turned his neck to see if he could see anything, but all he saw was the flapping of brilliant blue wings.

Now everyone in the room was silent. Harry knew what had happened wasn't normal, but he didn't want to say anything. The only person that looked upset by this was Elder Vaughn. He was the first to break the silence for the second time that day. "Get off the stool boy. You've shown off enough for today."

Harry was ab0out to move off when the Elder Elf yelled, "Don't MOVE." Instantly Harry froze. "The circle hasn't finished. This isn't over." Everyone stared at him perplexed, the elements had finished, and Harry wasn't going to be an earth elemental, if he was it would have been the first element to mark the boy.

Moments after he was stopped, the circle started to pulsate. An unearthly white light began to grow. Then with a brilliant flash, it was done. Harry looked around for a shape, an animal, anything, but it wasn't there. What he couldn't see were his eyes. His impossibly green eyes were now literally glowing.

The Elder Elf knew it was nearly impossible to gauge ones magical power just by the circle, but he had a feeling about this boy. He knew wizards, especially powerful wizards had the ability for wandless magic, but this boy was different. "Any other wizard would not pass the circles test. They would not be given the sight. Yes." He thought. "This boy is most definitely different."

Harry just sat there watching the Elders expressions. Elder Brook, The Air Elder, and Fire elder, just stood staring at him. The Elder Elf seemed to be very deep in thought and Elder Vaughn looked positively venomous. Blaze was the first to speak. "Is it safe for him to move?" He asked.

The Elders seemed to awaken from their stupor and nodded. Harry stood and moved away from the circle. He looked to Blaze who was still watching the Elders. "Is that all, sir?" He asked in an audible whisper.

"Is there anything else Elders?" Blaze asked addressing the group.

Elder Brook turned towards him quickly, causing her water like hair to cascade down her shoulders. "I believe we should decide where he should stay, who will train him, and then he must be given the proper attire." She looked towards the others who nodded, even if Vaughn's nod was rather reluctant.

"Who would take in this wizard? No one here would like to see him living, so why would they allow him in their homes?" Asked Elder Vaughn.

"We could not tell them what he is." Offered the Air Elder.

"That would be treachery Elder Tempest. We do not want to be like them. I will not stand for lying to the good family that takes **_this_** in. If they take him, they will know what **_it_** is."

"I agree with Elder Vaughn. Well not his views particularly, but this I do. The boy should not have to lie about what he is. He is an elemental, and for that he belongs among us." Said Elder Brook.

"So what would you have us do Marlene?" Asked Elder Vaughn is a sarcastic tone.

She turned her sapphire eyes to Harry, then Blaze and said, "Would you be willing?"

"If it would please the Elders and the Guild, I will take him."

"That is good, but do you really want to take him? I mean you've spent the most time with the boy. Would you like to have him in your home." She rephrased.

"Yes, Elder Brook. In the short time I've been with him he has gained my respect. I would be happy to have him." He replied with confidence. Even though elder Vaughn scoffed at the last sentence.

"Does this work for you Harry?" He just nodded. "Then it's settled. You will stay with the Hays family." Harry thought, "Blaze Hays? Probably not the best subject to bring up."

"Now as for your training that might be a little more difficult." Said the Elder Elf. "You see, most only have control over one element. You have the exceptional control over three. Not to mention your ability for wandless magic. For that I would be willing to teach you. If you are willing."

"Yes Elder." Harry replied with a polite bow.

"Good. Now for water, I believe Elder Brook would like to help you." He said as he looked towards her direction. She merely nodded in conformation. "As for fire, I believe Blaze may be able to help you." Again he looked to Blaze, who nodded. "Now for air, Elder Tempest?"

"I would like to, but I'm too busy as it is. It wouldn't be fair to the boy to be taught by someone who can't give their full attention." Stated the Air Elemental rather sadly. "I do have a recommendation however."

"Well who is it?" Asked the now angry Earth Elder.

"One of my greatest students." He said with pride. "Isis, do you think she'd be willing Blaze?"

"I do Elder, but I still have to ask."

"I believe she will accept, if she does not, we will find another."

"Now that is all settled, I believe you will be needing your uniform." Said the Elder Elf as he waved his hand. Three robes materialized before him, each a different shade of dark blue with a white lining. They seemed fairly plain before closer inspection. As the fabric moved the colors would gently change, creating a strange effect, which caused the robes appear to be ablaze and rippling as one. With another flick of the Elf's wrist Harry's tattoos were embroidered into the strange fabric.

"Now, you must wear these robes while in the guild, but not necessarily at all time. There will be occasions where it will be necessary that you were more suitable clothing such as battle robes." Said the Elder. "Now you should try one on."

Harry did so by slipping the fine fabric over his worn, castoff clothing. The robes were loose at first, but the moment they settled into place they resized to fit his slender frame. After his clothing was fit, Harry looked up towards the Elders once again.

Elder Brook looked to him and said, "Normally you would have to also wear a scarf to signify that you are just a novice. But since you are older than the rest, and they do not know you. I don't believe you will need one. It should be painfully obvious that you are new." Harry just nodded as she paused. "Now that everything is finished here, I believe it is time for you to get settled with Blaze, and his family." She paused again, "Unless there is any other business?" The others shook their heads, "Then you are free to go my young apprentice, I shall see you soon." She finished gesturing towards the pair.

A few minutes later Harry and Blaze were walking out of the Guild towards the front door. Harry had a huge smile on his face and couldn't wait to begin training. "When do I start training?" He asked as Blaze opened the door.

"As soon as we get home." Blaze said.

"Home." Harry thought, "That actually sounds funny. I've never really had a true home." Blaze walked through to flowing mist, and Harry followed. He felt the same strange feeling, and the urge to fall, but steadied himself as his feet touched the ground.

Blaze was again surprised by the young man's ability to cross the threshold without extreme difficulty. It was almost as if he'd been doing it for years. "I wonder how he'll take it after a whole day of training. The two continued their walk up the hill and towards the beautiful valley, when Harry asked, "When can I send my friends a letter telling them I'm okay?"

"Later tonight." Blaze replied, "It will help with you're training."


	3. Isis

Chapter 3 - Isis

Harry and Blaze walked away from the Guild. Harry wearing his Guild robes, and Blaze carrying the other two. They walked in silence for some time. Blaze was deep in thought, trying to figure a way to help Harry through the rough months ahead. He knew of his peoples prejudice towards wizard kind. He knew that the boy would be ridiculed and tormented, just for what he was. Though all of this was hardly easy, the worst of the young man's troubles would be to prove himself. He would be accused of using his 'corrupt' magic into fooling the Circle. The only way people would believe the markings were true is if they got to see Harry use them, and the easiest way to do that, was to provoke him. 'He will have a hard time indeed.' Blaze thought.

The pair descended from the higher elevation and continued towards the main market. As they walked through the forest of blue Aspen Maples, Harry felt at peace as the hundreds of small creeks and brooks trickled around him. He really liked this particular forest. 'I have to find some time to explore.' He thought as he stepped lightly over a fallen tree.

Blaze brought them into the main market area and turned to Harry. "I think we need to get you some new clothes. You'll need some other things too."

"Er…yeah I guess I would." He replied looking down at his Guild robes. "What type of currency is used here? Is it muggle, wizard, or something different?" Harry asked.

"Oh, it's the same as wizard's I guess. We use a branch of Gringotts. You know, to keep on good terms with the Goblins." Blaze said in a slight chuckle. "That's probably why they've never fought us like they have your kind. We never try to tell them how to do their job, and we don't threaten to change currency. Goblins are very sensitive when it comes to money."

"Well in that case I don't have a problem with it." Harry said as he untied his money pouch. He was extremely grateful he decided to wear it, and filled it with Galleons. He was almost positive that Blaze would help him in some way, but he already felt indebted to the man, and having to owe him money would be even worse.

"I could just pay for it Harry." Blaze said confirming the young man's thoughts.

"Thanks, but I'd feel better buying it."

"If you insist." Harry just nodded. "Are you sure you can pay for it? We do have a lot to buy today."

"I'll be able to. I've always paid for my school supplies before, this won't be much different."

"Alright then." Blaze said, not sounding too convinced. "Lets get you some clothes, and then we'll move onto something more fun. I hate clothes shopping, but hey, at least it's not for me."

The pair walked off of the forest trail, and their shoes connected with the hard cobble stone path. Silence descended upon the market place. Harry tried to ignore it. He was used to being starred at, but this was different. Usually when Harry was in public the looks he received were more of awe, and astonishment. This was different. Hate filled their eyes as they looked down upon him. He was startled at first, no one knew him here, and yet, they hated him. He caught slight whispers as they trudged through the crowd.

"Did you see the markings?"

"Yeah that can't be possible. He is a wizard though, I wouldn't put it past his kind to deceive the sacred Circle."

"I can't believe the Guild accepted him."

"We have to do something about this." Was the last comment Harry heard, whispered by an elderly earth elemental, before Blaze ushered him into a light wooden building, with a shirt shaped sign hanging above the entrance.

As Harry entered he immediately recognized the smell of fabric, but everything else in the store seemed foreign to him. He looked around at the architecture and was surprised that he couldn't find a single beam. The main room had more of a curve; there were no true right angles, or straight lines. He tried, and failed to find a single; bolt, screw, or nail. In reality the shop wasn't special it was just something Harry had never seen before. Most, if not all of the wooden elemental buildings were similar to this one.

The pair walked passed the displays and towards the counter where an elderly earth elemental stood flipping through her order forms. The shop owner looked up as they came closer and gave both of them a gentle smile. She seemed different than the others did. Her hazel eyes were more understanding, more accepting than any Harry had ever seen.

"How can I help you today?" She asked.

"We need a complete wardrobe for this young man, do you think you can help?" Blaze asked.

"Oh I'm sure we can." She looked towards Harry, "Any particular style Mr. Potter?" She asked.

"Er…before that, I'm curious, how did you know my name?" Harry inquired.

"Sorry dear, I guess I didn't formally introduce myself. I'm Notus and, you're Harry Potter, The boy-who-lived. We all know about you, but here you're just another wizard. Not an icon of hope, but one of disgrace. I'm sorry about that." She said, her voice wavering slightly. Once she regained her composure she started again. "You see, my sister was born a witch and I an elemental. My parents were both muggles, so it was rather odd, but we've managed. I know what you've done for your people, and for my sister, for that you will always have my respect. I'll help you anyway I can Mr. Potter, you just ask."

Harry was shocked, speechless really. He knew it would be tough here, the crowd was a testament to that, but if he had just a few people like Blaze and this woman to confide in, he could manage. "Thank you," he said regaining his ability to form words. "but could you call me Harry?"

"Sure Harry," She said with another smile, "Now what type of clothing would you like?" She asked getting back to business.

"Whatever you think would look best." He replied.

"Just the words I wanted to hear." She replied with another genuine smile. "Well let's see what you'll be most suited for." Said Notus as she walked around the counter to get a better look at his Guild robes. "Well you're the special one aren't you?" She asked, surveying the markings.

Notus decided to go with mostly blue and whites. Even though Harry was a fire elemental, his tattoo formed in blue flames, so Notus decided blue would suit him better than red. After an hour or so, of complete and total boredom in Harry's view, he had enough: pants, shirts, jackets, shoes, robes, hats, and undergarments, to last him a lifetime. When the total came Harry checked his money pouch and ashamed that he didn't have enough. Then he saw his key. "Excuse me, but is there a way I can pay through my Gringotts account?"

"Sure dear. Just hand me your key. I'll make an imprint, that you'll have to sign." Harry handed over his key, and signed the document saying that he authorized the payment. Since Harry had so many clothes resized, Blaze asked if they could be sent to his house. The elderly elemental had no complaints.

As the pair walked towards the other shop, Harry asked, "How does the key imprint work? I mean how did she know I had enough money to cover the clothes?"

"I guess you don't know too much about the Wizarding world either, do you?" Blaze said. "The parchment you signed is a piece of goblin magic. If you didn't have enough, your signature never would have shown." Harry just nodded as they made there way to the other shop.

As they approached the bookstore Harry couldn't ignore the stares any longer and hurried inside. Harry wouldn't say that he found books all that interesting, but this was different. This was a form of magic that he knew nothing about and he intended on learning as much as he could. He purchased books on topics ranging from basic elemental theory, to advanced control and techniques. He had to purchase quite a few considering each title was specific to only one element. He also purchased a few titles that Blaze insisted upon.

"If you're going to live here, and live with my family, then you're going to have to learn our sports." He said as he handed a book to Harry with the cover displaying something that resembled an epic battle. With fire, earth, and water flying in all directions. Upon closer inspection you could see that it was a field, but to Harry it was a battlefield.

"This is a sport?" Asked Harry. "It looks like they're at war."

"Oh come on, it's nothing like war." He said grabbing the book from Harry, "Well this isn't the best picture, but it's great. We call it Elemental Football. Not soccer, but real football, American football with an elemental twist. You'll love it."

"Er…right." Harry said as he placed the book onto his already growing pile. Harry made his way to the counter caring as many book as he could, while Blaze carried the rest. The pair dropped the items on the counter and waited for the clerk. A few minutes later a man dressed in deep blue greeted them. Then his eyes fell upon Harry.

"You're the _wizard_ aren't you?" He asked.

"Er…" Was all Harry could say.

"I'll take that as a yes. Your whole race is incompetent. You're their supposed 'savior' and even you can't string two words together. You're a worthless…" He trailed off as Blaze stepped in front of Harry, with his eyes glowing red, and his posture offensive.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself. He is part of my house, and he will be protected as such. Now ring up the books clerk." Blaze spat. The man obviously fearful of Blaze did as he was told, and Harry paid with Galleons, instead of his key.

After the two left they moved onto another store. The only sign above it was of two swords and a shield. Upon entering Harry was a little afraid. He really never had any weapons training, and this looked like an armory. Swords, axes, various blades, bows, and staffs were spread about the room. A whole section seemed to contain only battle armor. Harry looked around while Blaze spoke with the store manager.

He walked through all the finely crafted blades, but nothing he saw felt right. He liked their look, but he couldn't see himself actually using them. He walked towards the bows, and instantly he felt one 'call' to him. As he moved closer he could see an intricate ebony bow that held behind a glass case. The dark wood shined brightly in the somewhat dark store. Harry saw a small glint of light come from the center of the bow, but the way it was positioned he couldn't see what it was. So he slid open the display and reached for the bow. He could now see two small gems imbedded in the wood. Harry was about to grab the bow when the store manager yelled.

"WHAT do you think you're doing?"

Harry looked up to a large fire elemental. The man seemed to be in his late forties and had multiple scars across his aging face. He was well built and it was easily seen through his tattered battle robes. Harry instinctively stepped away from the bow and tried to muster an apology, but ended up staying mute.

"I asked you a question. What do you think you're doing?" He asked again but without the anger he had before.

"I just wanted to see what was sparkling." Harry replied timidly but kept his eyes locked with the shop owners.

The fire elemental just kept his gaze locked on Harry and said, "And?"

"And I felt it…er…call to me."

"Did you now?" his hard expression faltered and a small smile grazed his lips. The shop owners deep red eyes looked at Harry's guild robes and said, "But I guess you would, wouldn't you?" Harry didn't say anything. Not knowing what the man meant. "Let me explain," he continued. "Those things that were sparkling are a form of protection. Only an elemental can hold this bow, only an air and water elemental." He let out a rough laugh and continued. "You see my Father thought it would be funny to make the most magnificent bow anyone has ever seen, and make it useless to only the most gifted. Do you understand what I mean?"

Harry nodded slowly, then shook his head and said, "No, not really."

"Since it is unheard of for an elemental to control both water and air, this bow would sit until only the most gifted elemental would come to claim it. You are that gifted one. Do you understand now?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now you may take the bow."

Harry raised his hand rather hesitantly, then his Gryffindor courage took over and he wrapped his fingers around the finely polished bow. The two striking gems sparkled brightly as he pulled the weapon from its case. As he held it, he felt a small tingle of warmth spread through him. The second his fingers grazed the taught string; he knew this would be something he enjoyed.

Harry looked up to the two fire elementals and asked, "What is it made of?"

The shop owner responded proudly, "The wood is the richest ebony. It's rather hard to find, and not easy to control, but my father was a master. He also added the elfin elemental stones, and a phoenix feather core, for why I have no idea." Harry looked puzzled as did Blaze. "The only reason I could see for the stones was some strange protection, but the phoenix feather doesn't effect elementals at all. I have no idea why he would use it. I guess that's for you to find out. If you would like to take it."

"Of course."

"Great, you'll also need a quiver of arrows, and a way of carrying it." He looked to Blaze. "Anything else you need for him?"

"Well he is a fire elemental so he should have skill with a sword, and a water elemental, so throwing daggers would also come in handy."

"Great, now come this way." He said as he led them to the back of the shop.

The trio walked into a room of daggers. Thousands of them glinted in the dim light. Each had it's own style and holding pouch. Harry walked around the room trying to find the same feeling he had with the bow. He let his fingers graze the handles of the intricate blades. As he walked halfway around the room and still felt nothing he started to worry. Then just as the thought traced across his synapses he felt something. As slight trickle, something wet on his index finger. He looked down to see a set of deep blue daggers. The metal work was so detailed it looked as if the entire dagger was made of water. Harry lifted the pouch and turned to the fire elementals.

"You would like these?" asked Blaze. Harry nodded. "Okay, tie them on. The strap should reach your shoulder and the blades should lie at your hip. Harry did as he was told and was amazed to find the pouch a perfect fit. The curve of the case even fit his slim frame. "Yes, those are yours." Blaze said.

The storeowner stepped forward and said, "Okay, blades, and a bow are done. Now we need to find you a sword. Did anything in there feel right to you?"

"No sir. Nothing like the bow, or the daggers." Harry replied confidently.

"Okay. That's fine. Not everyone finds their weapons; most do, but not all. You'll simply have to make your own. I'm sure Blaze can help you, until then; find a practice kantana that feels the right weight."

After a few minutes Harry had found a wooden sword, and a sheath. The next item he need was battle robes. These would protect him in a duel. Most of the protection was from fire attacks, but the thin armor would also guard against arrows, knives, and swords. Harry picked out a thick navy blue under coat, which was much lighter than it seemed. Over that he wore a deep blue, almost black overcoat, which fell to his ankles, but surprisingly allowed easy movement. Across his arms he wore a pair of light grey leather arm guards. Since Harry was going to fill out during his time in Quadril they decided to make everything larger than needed.

Twenty minutes later the pair walked out of the 'armory' as Harry called it and headed towards the forest. Blaze led the way as Harry as trying to get used to his new 'attire', the daggers sheath fit perfectly, but the bow across his back was different. The sword at his hip wasn't too much of a bother but it did get in the way from time to time.

Blaze and Harry continued walking for quite some time as their surroundings kept changing. At first Harry could see a few homes scattered about the densely vegetated forest, but now there were only deep blue trees. As they walked Harry fired question after question at Blaze, who didn't seem to mind in the slightest. "Isn't there a faster way to get there?" Harry asked.

"We could always fire travel like we did before but that would be lazy. You need the exercise; tomorrow you'll be running from the house to Guild and back. So you better pay attention to where we're going. I don't want to lose you." Blaze said.

"Run?"

"Yeah, you know moving your legs at an accelerated rate to increase your speed. I'd thought you would have heard of it by now. People have been doing it for ages."

"Oh ha, ha. I know what running is. Its just most wizards don't condone physical activities like running."

"Well we're not wizards are we? The only thing you wizards do that could even been considered exercise is that Quidisomething game; and that's a lazy sport. The broom does all the work."

"WHAT?" Harry nearly shouted. "Quidditch is the best game in the world, and the broom doesn't do all the work. It takes a lot of skill to play that game." Harry said in a tone that sounded very close to a growl.

"In the Wizarding world maybe."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Thinking 'There can't possibly be a sport better then quidditch.'

"What I mean is we 'play' different types of games. I've already told you a bit about elemental football, but we have others. The games aren't necessarily sports but competitions."

"Explain?"

"We train ourselves to compete in tournaments for fun. Each has to do with your element. We have duels like wizards do, but ours are pretty intense. Nothing deadly it's just for fun. Well it's usually just for fun." Blaze said, as Harry was about to ask another question. "There also archery contests, and dagger throwing, sword fighting, and other weapon exercises. Don't worry about it, I'm sure the twins will fill you in."

"Twins?"

"Yeah, Sam and Bill. They're my sons."

"Why are there names so…er…plain?" Harry asked trying to find the most polite way to say it.

"Actually those are there real names. We all have real names, it's just we choose names later in life. They haven't chosen. I think they like it. They've always tried to be different." He laughed. "Usually one will change their name by the age of ten, but those two didn't. I think they never will."

"So everyone gets to pick their own name?"

"Well I wouldn't say pick, it is given to you. It's just you choose to keep your original name, or you Guild title. The twins have already received their title it's just they haven't decided to change."

"So what type of elementals are they?" Harry asked.

"Oh Sam is a fire elemental and Bill an air. Strange how it worked out that way." He said as if lost in thought for a moment. "But what's surprising is there skills are very closely related."

"So different elements can emulate others?"

"No, not usually. I think it has something to do with them being twins. I remember their first day at school when their teacher tried to separated them." Blaze gave a slight chuckle. "They sure did demolish that classroom. Took us a week to put everything back in order." Blaze looked back at Harry, who had a worried look on his face. "Oh don't worry they haven't done that in ages. They have a lot more control now."

"Er…glad to hear it." Harry said rather nervously.

"They act so much alike personality wise, that their elements just followed suit. That's what I believe anyway. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah a bit." Harry said as their conversion died away. Harry took in all his surroundings. Watching everything as they went. He believed Blaze when he said Harry would be running tomorrow and made sure he knew his way around. They passed many unique groves, and trees as they went. Harry knew he wouldn't have a problem finding his way. Everything was so unique he'd have no problem navigating the trails. Harry was so engrossed in his surroundings that he didn't notice he was standing in front of his future home until Blaze said.

"Welcome home."

Harry was too shocked to say anything he just kept walking up the cobblestone pathway. As the pair neared the entrance Harry felt the strange wind surround him. Harry looked at Blaze for an explanation and he got it.

"The twins are coming."

Just then he felt the wind shifting as two tornados formed just fifty meters in front of them one was fairly normal, but the other was bright red. The twin tornados sped towards them at an alarming speed. Harry was about to run but the twisters began to dissipate. As the air and fire parted nearly identical twin boys stood in front of them. They looked around fourteen years of age. Each had looked the same, except for one had shockingly yellow eyes, with long flowing red hair. While the other had extremely pale blue eyes and nearly clear white hair.

"Hi Dad, who's this?" Both twins chorused.

"This is Harry. Harry this is Sam and Bill. Sam is the red haired one, and Bill the white. Harry will be staying with us for a while."

"Great I've always wanted a brother." Said the twin on the left.

"HEY." Said the other with an offended look on his face.

"Well you know what I mean. A brother that doesn't look so much like myself."

"Yeah I know, I can't believe I am as ugly as you."

"Alright boys. Is your mother home?" Asked Blaze.

"No not yet. She said she might have to work late and…" said Bill. "…It's you're duty as a father to cook dinner when she can't.' Finished the twin on the left in a mocking tone.

"Oh right…forgot about that." Said Blaze as he motioned for Harry and the twins to continue towards the house. Harry examined the house, as they got closer. It was a large house but not excessively. It was composed of a dark stone, which seemed to grow from the earth. Surround the house were two types of trees, Red Maple, and White Russian Olive. Though the stone was seamless, many large windows broke the smooth surface. Harry looked through one as the group marched into the house. Harry could see that the glass was actually formed from the stone. 'I'll never get used to these homes.' Harry thought.

The twins opened the front doors, and Harry walked in. The first thing he noticed was how modern everything was, compared to wizards. They actually had brand name furniture and electric appliances. The house was clean and orderly but not starch and pristine as was the Dursley's. Harry liked the way it felt, natural and comforting. It didn't have the same feel as the Burrow but it was still comforting non-the less.

"Boy's why don't you get Harry settled. I think the room across from yours will do fine, after that come down and we'll have some dinner."

"Okay" Chorused the twins as they led Harry up a spiral staircase.

The two lead Harry through the house and stopped in front of a bare wooden door. Harry looked across the hallway to the twin's room and noticed the doors had a mural painted on them. Each door showed a different seen as two tornados ripping apart a classroom. Harry started laughing as he saw this.

"What's so funny?" asked the twin on the left.

"Your doors." Harry said.

"Oh, yeah we do that every school year." Said the twin on the right. "Usually on the first day, but lately teachers have caught on." Said the Sam. "So we have found better places to do it." Said the Bill. "This year we're going to cause the largest food fight in the history of Quadril. We plan to do the twin tornado trick at lunch time on the first day back." Said one of the twins. "It's going to be great." They said together.

"I'm sure it will be. How do you get away with it though? I mean, can't you get in trouble for it?" Harry asked.

"Yeah we can, but we haven't yet…"

"…You see the rules say that you can't use your elemental control to travel through the hallways…"

"…But it doesn't say anything about the classrooms. They changed that though." He said with a sigh.

"Because of us. Now you're not allowed to use the elemental travel through the halls or the classrooms…"

"But they didn't say anything about the mess hall." The two finished with a sly smirk upon their faces.

"Brilliant." Was all Harry could add the entire explanation.

"Right…well here's your room. It's not much but it will do." Said one of the twins as he opened the door.

The room was much larger than his old one at the Dursley's. Their was a king size bed placed in the middle of the room lined with grey sheets. Above the bed there was a large window that over looked the front of the house. To the right there was a small desk and leather chair. Lining the walls were hundreds of books. Most of them seemed to discuss elemental theory and explanation.

"It's great." Harry said.

"It's boring." Stated one of the twins simply.

"Yeah there's nothing to it. It's plain, but I'm sure Mum and Dad won't mind you changing it." Said the other twin.

"Okay." Harry said.

"So what type of elemental are you?" asked one of the twins.

"Er…"

"Come on just tell us. We're going to find out anyway." Said the other twin.

"Well I'm an air, water, and fire elemental." Harry said rather quietly.

"WHAT?"

"No you're not. You can't be. No one has every had the ability to control more than two elements." Said one of the boys as the other just nodded his head in agreement.

"I know, but it's true." Harry said.

"Can we see your robes then?" They asked together.

"Uh…sure I guess." Harry said as he shrugged off his weapons and pulled out a Guild robe. He handed it to the twins as he removed the top layer of his battle robes. The twins each stared in awe of the three intricate symbols. Sam was the first to speak. "Is there any movement to them?"

"Some." Harry replied modestly. He didn't feel like drawing futher attention to himself, but he knew he'd have to tell them at some point anyway, but now wasn't the time.

"Mom will be happy when she sees you. She's been looking for someone to train." Said Bill as he placed Harry's robe on the bed.

"Well she did train me, but that's expected." Said Sam

"She still hasn't officially taken an apprentice though."

"Yeah, she's a really powerful air elemental so she can't train anyone that's not as powerful as she is…"

"Except family." Added the other twin.

"…Yeah except family, and you definitely qualify in the power department." Finished the other twin.

"That's great. Could I ask you a question?" Harry asked.

"Sure." They said together.

"How is that everything here is so down to earth, yet you have modern electrical appliances?"

"Oh that. Well dad really likes all that stuff. He says it makes everything easier. We have water-powered generator out near the creek. A lot of the community members frown upon it, but it doesn't do any harm." Said Sam.

"They had a fit. Do you remember the Vaughn Family?"

"Yeah, there son wouldn't leave us alone about it. Saying we were hurting the land. He's the one you makes giant cracks in it for kicks."

Bill turned serious and said, "You don't want to mess with their family. They aren't the best people."

"Yeah I've met Elder Vaughn. He doesn't like me." Harry stated, which he had to admit was an understatement. Elder Vaughn hated him.

"It's alright he really doesn't care for anyone."

Harry was about to reply when he heard Blaze call from down stairs, "Boy's your mother's home."

Both boys took off down the hallway. They were halfway to the stairs when they noticed Harry wasn't moving. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" Said Sam.

"Nothing." Harry said as he joined the other two.

As the twins and Harry entered the living room they were greeted by a beautiful woman. She was of average height. She had perfectly white hair that flowed off her shoulders halfway down her back. Her eyes were mixture of grey and white that swirled together, and a small smile played upon her lips as she saw her boys speeding towards her.

"How have you two been today?" She asked, she didn't seem to notice; the small, skinny, dark haired boy behind them.

"Great mum. We'd like you to meet Harry." The two said together.

Her majestic gaze followed their motion towards Harry standing just to the left of them.

"Well hello there Harry. My name is Isis, I guess Blaze has forgotten to tell me something, but no bother. How are you?"

"I'm good ma'am." Harry stated shyly.

"That's good, but please refrain from calling me ma'am. Isis will be sufficient; ma'am just makes me sound old. Do I look old to you?" She asked in mock hurt tone.

"No…I wasn't…I didn't mean to…" Harry started stuttering.

Isis and the boys started laughing. "Don't worry about it Harry. I was just kidding, but I do think you should lighten up a bit."

"Yes ma…Isis."

"Well I'm sure we'll catch up over dinner. Let me go check how that's going. You better stay out here, Blaze gets a little overzealous with his cooking." She said.

Isis turned towards the kitchen and raised her arms before she opened the door. Harry could sense she was moving the air around them. As she opened the door Harry could clearly see a wall of air protecting her. When the door opened all the boys could see was bright red flames shooting in all directions.

'I guess that's what the shield was for' Harry thought.

After a short while Isis returned from the raging inferno they call a kitchen and told the boys dinner would be ready in a minute. Shortly after Blaze came out carrying many dishes and trays.

"Well here you go. I didn't know what food you liked Harry so I made a bit of everything. I hope you don't mind."

Harry sat down at the table and looked around at the food in front of him. Everything he could ever want was there. It was like a meal the house elves at Hogwarts would serve, just on a smaller scale.

"This looks great sir, thank you."

"Not a problem Harry, but you called me sir, it's Blaze."

"Sorry."

"Blaze dear would you mind telling me why Harry is here. It seems you forgot to mention that earlier." Said Isis as she stared at her husband.

"Oh right, sorry about that. Harry is going to be staying with us for a while. He needs to be trained. I thought this would be the best home for him considering the special circumstances." Blaze said.

"And what are these special circumstances?" She asked.

"Harry is a very powerful air elemental like yourself, more so actually. He's also a water and fire elemental. I thought that you could train him in his use of air, I could teach him in fire, and the water Elder has decided to train him in that." Said Blaze as he carefully watched his wife's expression. He could see straight off she was shocked. Her fork dropped from her hands and a vacant expression appeared on her face. "Are you alright dear?" He asked.

"Mum you okay?" Asked Bill with a slight smile.

"Yeah mum you look a little pale." Added Sam.

"Ahh…yeah I'm fine boys. Did you just say Harry could control three elements?" She asked in a voice that was just above a whisper.

"Yeah I did. He just discovered his powers this morning actually. So I think he'll have a lot to show us once he's trained up a bit." Blaze said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah I think so too." Said Isis. "If you don't mind I'm going to go for a walk. I need to clear my head."

"Not at all dear." Said Blaze, "We'll see you when you get back."

"Alright." She said as she walked out the front door.

"Is she going to be okay?" Asked Harry.

"Oh she'll be fine." Said Bill.

"Yeah just great when she gets back." Said Sam.

"She always does that when she's surprised with something great." Finished Bill.

"Oh alright." Harry said as he finished his last bite of food. As if it was an instinct Harry got up and grabbed his plate, and reached for a dish on the table. (Just a normal thing to do at the Dursley's) The only difference tonight was he didn't have to cook the meal also. As he reached for the dish the twins stopped him.

"What are you doing?" They asked together.

"Er…Just clearing the table." Harry said.

"Why?" The two asked.

"It's just something I did at home." Harry stated simply.

"Ah…Well here it's not like that. We all take turns with chores and such. The twins have the dishes tonight." Blaze said. "And while they do that we have a letter to write."

"Okay." Harry said as he set the plates down and followed Blaze into the living room.

Blaze walked over to a small desk and pulled out a stack of paper and a strange looking pen. It was all-metal and had a sharp point. There didn't seem to be any ink in it. He placed a piece paper and a pen in front of Harry and told him to take the pen.

"Now the first thing you'll want to do is think of fire and how it relates to you. Think of how it moves, how it consumes what it touches, how it feeds off the world. "

Harry thought of sitting in front of the Gryffindor fireplace. Letting the heat radiate towards him. He imagined the fire swaying back and forth as it sat on top of the logs. Harry could feel as strange warmth envelope him. He could actually feel the flames from the fire.

"Okay great, now I want you to focus that energy through your arm, down your hand, into your fingers, and finally to the tip of the pen."

Harry did what he was told. He allowed the fire to travel through him and directed it towards the pen. He opened his eyes to see the pen's tip glowing bright red.

"I did that?" Harry asked

"Yes you did and a lot faster than I thought you would have." Blaze said. "Now comes the hard part. Use the pen to right your letter but don't set the paper on fire. This usually requires many tries, but once you get it, you'll never forget."

Harry set the pen to the paper and it instantly caught a flame. Harry repeated this process at least fifty times before he finally managed to mark the paper without burning it. Once he got comfortable writing with the pen he started his letter. While each word was etched into the paper Harry thought. "I hope this is good enough for them."


	4. The Burrow and a Duel

Chapter 4: The Burrow and a Duel

The usual activity of the Burrow was nowhere near the silence and fear that sat in this home today. The red haired occupants sat around their large rustic fireplace staring teary eyed at the belongings of their missing friend. A snow-white owl sat perched on her cage looking around the room. Looking for her companion. Her cage was carefully placed upon a large wooden trunk, which lay locked and untouched. Next to it a slender broom sat, waiting to be ridden.

Ever since the morning when Professor Snape and Albus Dumbledore dropped off Harry's belongings the house became dead silent. No one wanted to comment on Snape's story, which told of him escaping with Harry's relatives just as Voldemort had Harry pinned. No one wanted to think about it. No one wanted to bare the thought of Harry being injured, or worse.

Ever since the news four hours ago the house did very little, besides a few outbursts of frustration and disbelief. Mrs. Weasley was cooking with a new purpose, but no one felt like eating. Even Ron, who never seemed to stop, politely declined the offer. He was taking the news the worst. He wouldn't let anyone touch Harry's things. He said, "Harry will be back soon, you'll see. He doesn't need you to move his stuff. He'll be back." No one wanted to argue with Ron, especially after what he said to Snape.

After Snape told his story, upon Dumbledore's request, Ron wouldn't leave him alone. He started shouting about how it could only have been Snape that gave away Harry's location. He pointed out that Snape didn't even try to help; he just fled. That he hated Harry more than anyone else. After the first few shouts Snape seemed to stiffen. He was about to open his mouth in a reply when Ron drew his wand, pointed straight at his potions master's heart, and said, "Leave, NOW, you're not welcome here." With that Snape strode past the angry Gryffindor and marched straight for the fire. The last word they heard from the ex-deatheater was "Hogsmeade."

After Snape left Ron took a seat in front of the fire. Watching the flames twist around the logs that lay there. He hadn't moved from this position. He just sat there waiting. Ron had no intention of leaving his 'post,' he was waiting for Harry. "Who would be coming through any second." He thought. After hours of waiting the fire roared and turned green. "This was it." He thought, "Harry's coming now. Death Eaters don't have him, he's not dead, he was just hiding." But it didn't turn out as he'd expected. Instead of the usual bright green eyes and messy raven hair, brown eyes and frizzy brown hair was seen.

"Oh Ron tell me they've found him." Said Hermione as she ran towards Ron. She embraced him in a friendly hug, which caused his ears to turn red just a tinge.

"Er…no, nothing Hermione, but they'll find him. He's safe I know he is." Ron said as she let go of him and stepped back. Her eyes focused on his, and at that point he saw how afraid, sad, and miserable Hermione was. She missed Harry as much as he did.

"I'm sure he's fine, he has to be. Right?" Hermione asked on the verge of tears.

"Yeah I'm…I'm sure he's fine. He's…he's Harry isn't he? The-Boy-Who-Lived and all that. I'm sure he'll be here any second, acting all modest, saying that it was just luck he survived again." Ron said trying to lighten the mood.

Hermione gave a hallow chuckle and said, "Yeah I know you're right."

Hermione slumped down on the couch next to Ron, staring into the fire. They were perfectly content together, waiting for their friends return. Minutes melted into hours, as they sat in the warm, comforting Weasley household. No one wanted to disturb the pair; no one wanted to interrupt their mourning.

After a few hours, and no movement from Harry's closest friends, Mrs. Weasley started to worry. "They haven't eaten anything Arthur. They have to eat something, it's just not healthy."

"I don't know Molly, the loss of Harry is go…." Mrs. Weasley started to say but was cut off by Ron, who heard from the other room.

Ron stood up very quickly, startling Hermione and his parents. He looked over to them and almost growled. "We haven't lost Harry. He'll be back."

"He probably will son, but you have to accept that he might be gone."

"No, Harry is not gone. I don't know how I know, I just do." Ron said on the verge of tears. He felt like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

"It's alright son, we all cared for Harry."

"Cared? Cared? He's not gone." He said as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "Why do you keep referring to him as if he's already dead? He's not, that slimy evil git Vo…Voldemort will never get Harry. You'll see."

"Ron," Mr. Weasley started. He knew that his son was grieving but he also knew that the first step to recovery was acceptance. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named never leaves anyone alive. They didn't find Harry at his house, and they saw the place where the curse had caught him. It blew a hole straight through the stairs." Said Mr. Weasley.

"Harry's not GONE!!!" Ron bellowed as the furniture shook and the floorboards cracked. "He'll be fine."

"I'm sure he will be dear." Offered Mrs. Weasley trying to calm her son, and his uncontrolled magic.

Ron slumped back into his seat and gave one final furious look towards his father and said, "He'll be back."

As the words left the young man's mouth a burst of blue flames appeared in mid air, as a piece of parchment floated from the ceiling. It gracefully fell into Ron's waiting hands. He looked around startled, then to Hermione. She motioned for him to come closer. The two read the letter together. At first their expressions were worried, than out of nowhere a burst of laughter. Ron looked up to his parents after a minute or two and said, "Harry's fine. Here. I told you he was fine."

Mr. Weasley took the paper from his son and began to read.

_Dear Everyone,_

_I really didn't know who to address this to, so it's for everyone. Now first things first, I'm fine, and safe. I won't be able to see you for a while and I can't tell you where I am. I'm sorry about that but I have no choice, and this will probably be the last letter until I see you again. _

_The latest I'll be back is the Christmas holiday, but I may show up anytime, so be on the look out. Please inform Professor Dumbledore about this. I don't want to be away I just have to, and Hermione don't worry I won't fall behind in my studies. Ron would you please tell Professor McGonagall that I won't be Seeker this year. On account of me not being there._

_I hope that Hedwig is okay, and the Dursley's. If she is fine please take care of her, she really is a great owl. As for my stuff just keep it together until I get back, I'm sure I'll need it. Ron and Ginny (Hermione too, I just never thought you liked flying) you can use my broom if you like. Just don't hurt it. I think that's it, well accept for the escaping death thing. I really don't know what happened. It must have been one of Dumbledore's wards, but in any case I'm grateful I still have a heartbeat._

_Well take care all of you, I'm sorry if this isn't good enough but I never was the best writer._

_I hope to see you soon,_

_Harry_

Mr. Weasley looked up from the paper and caught his son's eyes, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"That's alright I was doubting myself there for a bit." Ron said, "Did you see it Hermione? I told you he'd be acting all modest. Like he didn't have anything to do with it."

Hermione laughed and said, "You did. I just so happy he's safe, but did you see the writing?"

"Yeah I read it didn't I?"

"Well yeah but did you notice how it was written?"

"On paper."

Hermione started to get frustrated and put on her McGonagall like face and said, "Ron it's not written with ink. It's burned into the paper."

Ron snatched the paper back from his father, who was still in shock, and looked it over carefully. He could see the unmistakable marks of the charred parchment. There was no denying that the words were burned into it. "Well what's that mean?" He asked Hermione.

"I…I don't know." She said, actually sounding sad about it.

Ron suppressed a chuckle and was about to say some witty remark, but stopped himself and said. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

The rest of the night was much happier than earlier that day. Ron regained his appetite and was determined to make up for the lost meals. Ron kept telling everyone the same thing all night, "I told you he was alright." And, "I just knew."

Far away from the warm, comforting Burrow, a tall figure draped in a pitch-black cloak paced through his manor. He was furious. 'Some one needs to pay. This wasn't my fault. There's no way Potter could have escaped under his own power. There's nothing special about that boy.' He thought as he passed by one of his henchmen. "Is there?" He said out loud.

"Is there? My lord." Said the cowering figure.

"Don't you dare speak to me when I haven't addressed you." Voldemort spat, within a moment his wand was drawn and pointed at the trembling man.

"Sorry My Lord. I thought you were speaking to me." He said his voice now failing him slightly.

"You're pathetic." Voldemort snapped as he swished his wand in an elliptical motion causing the death eater to flip upside down and smack painfully into the wall. With another flick of the wrist the man's face was now level with that horrible reptilian face, and evil red eyes. "Get me Malfoy and that curse breaker of his." As Voldemort dropped his wand the man came crashing down, nearly landing on his head if his hands hadn't been faster. The man straightened himself up and looked back into the red eyes of his master. Voldemort just shouted, "NOW you insolent fool." The man turned and ran down the dark hallway.

Voldemort walked into a large sitting room. He moved close to the dark fireplace and flicked his wand towards the vaulted ceiling. A demonic medieval chair fell from above and bounced into place. Voldemort gracefully sat in his thrown like chair, waiting for some answers. With every passing second his anger grew. He didn't like waiting, especially when he wanted answers now.

After ten minutes the door creaked open to reveal the pale skin and white hair of Lucius Malfoy. "You called, Master?" He asked with his eyes down.

"Yes, and bring your little curse breaker with you."

The two men shrouded in black cloaks slowly moved towards Voldemort. As they reached him they kneeled and placed their hands at his feet. Voldemort stared at them for a moment with a look of utter disgust.

"You failed me Lucius. You said the wards were down. You said the boy was mine." He nearly growled, as a dark aura surrounded him, slowly growing, and twisting around his thin frame. "Tell me what happened," He said now addressing the curse breaker.

"I don't know my lord, as far as I could tell there was no protection left. I even disabled the small charms that would alert Dumbledore. There was nothing I could see left." The man trembled.

"Did you look inside the home? Did you search for internal wards? Something that would stop the killing curse." Voldemort asked.

"Yes my lord, when the family was gone we looked. There was nothing, and nothing can stop the killing curse." He said in a barely audible whisper.

"That boy stopped it. He stopped it when he was only a year old." Voldemort screamed. "How dare you question me?" Voldemort stepped back and took a deep breath. He pulled out a small lead medallion from his cloak and put his wand to it, after whispering a few words it glowed a deep blue and then stopped. He looked back to the curse breaker and said in a calm voice, "Rise." The man did so but never look into Voldemort's eyes.

"I have another assignment for you. Are you up to the task?" He asked in a voice that could be confused for kind.

"Yes my lord anything you ask."

Voldemort handed the man the medallion and said, "Count down from five, you'll know your purpose when you arrive."

"Yes, my lord. Five…four…three…two…"

Before the man finished Voldemort said, "This is the perfect assignment for you. One I could only trust with my most useless followers…feeding the guards of Azkaban. The man's eyes grew wide with terror and looked straight into Voldemort's blood red eyes. Voldemort gave a hideous smile and with a flick of his wand the man disappeared. Condemned to live a lifetime as a soulless shell of a man.

"Now Lucius how are we going to fix this little problem?" Voldemort said as he sat back into his chair.

"I do not know, my lord. The Potter boy has disappeared. Not even the muggle loving fool Dumbledore knows where he is." Said Malfoy senior with his face to the ground.

"So he's missing is he? And tell me how do you know this Lucius." Asked Voldemort with peaked interest.

"A few of my spies have informed me my lord. The one watching that mudblood friend of his says she was very upset, saying that Harry was dead. The other at that disgustingly pathetic Weasley home said the mass of red heads were crying." He said with a twisted smile. A smile that only a person who liked seeing others in pain could produce.

"Ah very good, so we must find him." Said the man with a calculating look. "Without Dumbledore intruding this shouldn't be too hard. There is nowhere he can hide. Not from me." After that the two sat in silence for a minute. Voldemort sat planning and Malfoy thinking of how to avoid punishment for his failure. "Lucius I want you to track him down, or find someone that can. I need to find him." Voldemort said.

"Yes my Lord."

"You are free to go Lucius."

"Thank you my Lord." Said Malfoy feeling almost joyous that he had avoided so much as a simple curse. He moved up from his bow and walked towards the door. Just as he reached the handle he heard Voldemort move. A second later he was starring at his Masters reptilian face.

"I almost forgot your punishment." With a flick of his wand Lucius was across the large room. Facing Voldemort who was on the other side. With another complex movement of his wand a dueling platform appeared. "We will duel, any curse, hex, or charm is legal." Malfoy looked as if he as going to object to the duel. "Don't worry Lucius I won't kill you if you actually try in this duel, but if you refuse, I will kill you, slowly. Do you understand?" Finished Voldemort.

"Yes my Lord." Malfoy was trembling just slightly. He tried to keep his calm demeanor but facing off against the most powerful dark wizard of the age didn't make him feel very confident in his abilities.

"Bow Lucius, we'll start on three are you ready?" Voldemort asked.

"Yes my Lord." He said in a barely audible whisper.

"Good now the count of three. One…Two…Three."

Lucius struck first. He knew that by doing so it was going to mean a painful backlash but he also knew that if he didn't appear to be fighting as strong as he could Voldemort would kill him.

He launched a complex pain spell that affected a person's hand. Making them drop their wand, something like the disarming spell just much more painful. Voldemort blocked it easily and countered with the same spell. Yet he used a different wand movement to increase the spells power. His curse easily broke Malfoy's shield and he dropped his wand screaming in pain.

"Pick it up, we're not finished yet."

Malfoy did so without a word. He tried a bone-breaking curse on his Master but this again was easily blocked, but Voldemort did not counter. "So you wish to harm me do you?" He asked in a horrible rage.

"No Master I'm only doing as you asked."

"I told you to duel me, not maim me. For that Lucius you will pay." A dark cloud seemed to form around Voldemort, rippling around him, vibrating with dark energy. With a long swipe of his wand the dark cloud shot towards Malfoy, who raised the strongest shield he knew, but the curse never struck his shield. The dark magic sank into the stone underneath the lone death eater. For a moment nothing happened. Then instantly the stones shot form the ground and wrapped around Malfoy in the form of a giant snake. He instantly dropped his wand to remove the coils of stone, but to no avail. They stone creature just squeezed harder.

"Do you like it Lucius? This is one of my favorite spells." He laughed. "It takes any type of material and turns it into a serpent of the same substance. Quite ingenious really, there is a problem though. One must be a parselmouth to control it." His face contorted into a smile and walked closer to his defeated opponent.

"You failed me Lucius and for that there has to be punishment. Normally the cruciatus would suffice, but I believe it lacks imagination. There is one flaw to the cruciatus curse do you know what that is?" Asked Voldemort.

All Malfoy could do was grunt a response, as the stone snake was squeezing his ribs. "Oh right the spell, as I was saying the only draw back to the curse is the lack of permanent damage. Yes it could permanently ruin your mind, but then you would be useless. This is something different; this can leave a lasting scar. Now you're right handed aren't you?" Malfoy nodded. Voldemort whispered a few words in parseltongue and the animated stone snake started to move again. It turned its head towards Malfoy, opened its mouth and bit into his left shoulder with a sickening crunch.


	5. Training

Chapter 5 – Training

Harry woke screaming; clutching his scar with his left hand, and left shoulder with his right. It took him only a moment to realize it was just a dream, but he felt everything. He felt Voldemort's hatred, his anger, and it so real to the teen. It took him a second to regain his composure and figure out where he was.

Part of him expected to wake up alone and miserable within the confines of the Dursley household, but he didn't. Harry awoke in a large grey room lined with many books; this alone brightened his mood. Today he would start his physical training, Blaze assured him it wouldn't be too bad, but he wasn't sure. Harry got up, grabbed a change of clothes, and walked to the bathroom. Noticing that it was still pretty early, he moved slowly, not wanting to wake anyone.

Halfway down the hall Harry noticed that he wasn't being quiet…he was being silent. He couldn't hear his feet touch the stone floor. Not the slightest indication that he was even moving. He shrugged it off and figured it had to do with his new abilities. He continued his silent walk towards the bathroom making sure he stayed stealthy. Harry took a shower and grabbed the towel off the wall. He turned to look at himself in the mirror. His raven hair lay flat against his head, and his vibrant green eyes stood out more than ever.

Watching his reflection he wondered if he could really deal with his features changing so drastically. He didn't mind the change of his hair, since he already looked so much like his father, but his eyes were different. They were the only things that linked him to his mother's appearance and he wasn't sure he could lose that.

Harry headed down stairs, briefly stopping in his room to grab his wand. He found Isis sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea and reading the newspaper. She hadn't come home last night until after Harry and the twins went to bed. Harry was afraid that she was sad to have him in her house but Blaze assured him otherwise.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" She asked without looking up.

"Er…yes ma'…yes I would." Harry stuttered.

"Well have a seat then." She said and Harry sat in the chair across from her and poured himself a cup. They sat there for a minute in silence as Isis read through her paper. The silence was broken when Isis said, "They haven't told the press that you're missing."

"Huh?" was Harry's only response.

"The Wizarding world doesn't know you're gone." She said handing him a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry scanned the moving pictures and bold type. She was right there was nothing about him, not even an article about Voldemort. This really didn't surprise him, if his letter had made it to his friends, then they wouldn't alert anyone else. What bothered him was the fact, Isis, and air elemental had a Wizarding newspaper.

"Do you usually get the Daily Prophet?"

"No not usually, but lately I've been reading it. There has been a lot about you in there. You did very well in that tournament." She paused for a second, "And I never believed a word from that horrible Skeeter woman."

Harry gave a slight smile, and looked up from the paper straight into a pair grey eyes. "How'd you get the Prophet? I mean…er…it's a Wizarding paper."

"We are always in contact with the Wizarding world, even if they don't know it. We also visit Diagon Alley for potion supplies and to go to Gringotts, well not the twin's they'd destroy the place." She chuckled.

"How do you get in? It's not supposed to open to anyone without a wand." Harry asked.

"Oh that's really not too much of a problem. All elementals have a bond with all creatures, magical or not, I'm sure Blaze told you." Harry nodded. "Well the Goblin's arranged it so elementals can enter the Alley, but instead of a wand we just touch the right bricks."

Harry thought for a second before saying, "Then how is it no one has noticed you? I've never seen a wizard with the same appearance as an elemental."

"Well, hardly anyone goes there anymore, not for a good twenty years. If you haven't noticed Blaze and I have a different view than most of the public." Harry just nodded, "We also disguise ourselves, just like wizards try to dress and act like muggles. The only difference is we do it better." She laughed. After her explanation, the two of them sat in silence for a little while, before Harry broke it.

"Isis?"

"Hmm" She said taking a sip of tea.

"Why is that most elemental hate wizards?"

She gracefully lowered her teacup, and raised her brilliant eyes towards Harry's. "There was a time when wizards and elementals lived in relative peace, but even then, we weren't widely known. We have always stayed close to our Elvin brethren, and Elf's do not interact with wizards. Legend tells us that the conflict started the day of Merlin's death." She paused and took a sip of her tea before continuing. "Most of the Wizarding text tells of him dying peacefully, but this wasn't the case. Merlin was murdered, by an elemental. He fought bravely, but was no match for the greatest air elemental that has ever lived." She paused and Harry took it as a time for a question.

"Why did the elemental kill him?"

"The elemental who renamed himself Zeus, was power hungry. He wanted to be known, he wanted all to see him as the most powerful human alive."

"And the only way to do that would be to kill the worlds most powerful wizard." Harry stated in a whisper.

"Precisely." Isis said smiling grimly, "When it became known their leader was killed by an elemental, we were deemed dangerous. We tried to resolve our differences with them, telling that we didn't know of the lone elementals plans, we even captured and delivered Zeus to them, but that didn't help. Elementals were slaughtered. We may have strength, but there is nothing that can block the killing curse. There is a very old law that is still in use, which states, any witch or wizard may dispose of any elemental, without prosecution." She paused and let Harry think about what she had just said, before continuing. "We had no choice but to run, we were, and still are vastly out numbered. We sought refuge with our Elvin brothers, and have lived with them ever since. Now do you understand?" She asked.

Harry just nodded and said, "I would have done the same thing….but how is that wizards know nothing of elementals if the law is still in active?"

"Some know, a very select few, and those wise enough will know the true story about us, but we are considered a myth. A dead race."

There was a pause as Harry absorbed the information, and asked a question that he really wanted to know. "Can I do magic here. I mean without being detected by the ministry?"

She looked at him for a second, in an almost calculated way. Her gaze made Harry slightly uncomfortable. She blinked and said, "You won't be detected by the ministry. But I would not do Wizard's magic in front of any, but us. The consequences would be dire. Do you understand?"

"Yes." He replied shortly, before asking. "Do the twins know? That I'm a wizard I mean."

"Yes they know, but they aren't prejudice against it. We've raised them better than that."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

"You're welcome dear." She said and their conversation faded into silence. Harry finished his tea, and waited for Isis to do the same. A few minutes later Harry could hear a slight shuffling coming from above.

"The twins are up." She stated, "Every morning it's the same thing. They always fight who gets into the bathroom first. The problem is they both wake up at the same time every day. So they fight every day. Some times I wish one was stronger than the other so the fighting wouldn't last as long."

Harry just laughed as he heard, "Ouch, that burns." Then a second later a loud thump and, "Bill, put me down. You can have the bathroom, but let me off the ceiling." This was followed by another loud bang and, "I said let me down. Not drop me you prat." Then the bathroom door slamming, some mumbled curses, and Sam's footsteps as he headed down the stairs.

A minute later a tired, and slightly ruffled looking Sam walked into the kitchen. Just as he looked over to Harry he heard the shower turn on. He let out a sigh, then his expression changed and a slightly evil smirk appeared. Isis noticed and said, "Sam don't."

"Mum," He said in a whine, "he just dropped me from the ceiling. It won't be too bad."

Isis looked at him for a second, then got up and said, "I know nothing, and Harry Blaze said you two are going running when he gets up."

"Alright." He said.

"I'll have something for you to do when you get back also. So don't use all your energy." Isis said as she walked out of the kitchen.

Harry nodded, and turned to Sam, "What are you going to do?'

He laughed in a mocking evil manner and said, "You know how fire elementals can create heat right?" Harry just nodded, "Well it can be rather useful when dealing with your evil twin."

"Okay." Harry said, not really getting what the supposedly good twin meant. Even when he had that look Fred and George usually have just before they're going to do something to Ron.

Sam grabbed Harry and pulled him near the pantry. He opened the door exposing a network of copper pipes. "This pipe." He said pointing to one of them "Is the cold water pipe that leads to the bathroom." He wrapped his hand around it and said. "I think Bill would like his water just a little warmer, don't you?"

Harry laughed and nodded. The pipe began to glow bright red, as it was being heated. Seconds later a scream of obscenities erupted from the bathroom above, which caused Harry and Sam start laughing hysterically. What was even worse, for Bill, was Isis happened to be walking by at that very moment.

Harry and Bill could hear the bathroom door slam open as Isis' voice rumbled through the hallway and down the stairs. "How dare you use language like that? Where did you even learn such words?"

"Mum I'm naked." Bill whined, as he pulled the shower curtain around himself. "Could we please talk about this after I'm dressed?" He said blushing horribly.

"Oh stop blushing, I used to change your diapers," Which only caused his face to redden even more, "but yes, we'll **_talk_** about this later." Bill visibly gulped at his mother's use of 'talk', as the two down stairs heard the bathroom door slam shut. Harry and Sam were having trouble breathing from laughing so hard as a tired looking Blaze walked in.

"I can only assume that you're behind all this." He said knowingly as he looked towards Sam.

"I know nothing of this father," He said looking down at his bare wrist. "Ahh look at the time, it has been a great chatting with you blokes, but alas I must depart. I bid you farewell gentlemen, as I adjourn to my room." Said the fire twin; Harry couldn't help but smile at fire elementals formality.

Blaze didn't miss a step and said in a humorous tone, "Yes you adjourn, but we shall meet again. And at that time you will pay for your shenanigans." Sam just waved it off and headed upstairs to meet his very pink brother.

"So Harry, ready for your run?" Blazed asked.

"Sure." Harry said.

A few minutes of proper stretching, the pair was off jogging towards town. Harry thought he'd have trouble with this, but he kept up with Blaze. After the two were half way to town Blaze told him to stop. Harry walked over to him and Blaze said, "Put this on." As he handed Harry a silver necklace with a black emerald dangling from it.

Harry took the piece of jewelry and put it around his neck. He couldn't help but think, 'This is an odd time for a gift.' But said nothing of it. Before Harry could thank Blaze, he took off running. This time Harry did have trouble keeping up. He felt tired almost instantly. He slowed and stopped, panting heavily.

Blaze jogged back over to him, and with a fake bewildered looks asked, "What's wrong Harry? Why can't you keep up anymore?"

Harry just looked at him and tried to regain his breath before he asked, "What is this thing?" While he lifted the silver chain.

"That, is what we call a dampener. You were using the air element so you wouldn't get tired. That necklace will keep you from using your air element." He paused for a second. "But it can be over powered."

"Thanks. I really enjoy not breathing." Harry said rather sarcastically.

"Come on, it's not that bad, and if you don't use it you'll never build muscle."

"I guess you're right, but when do I learn how to over power it." Harry asked

Blaze laughed a bit and said, "After you finish the bulk of your physical training."

Once Harry felt he was able to continue, the pair jogged the rest of the way towards the Guild. Harry tried to think of something, anything but the pain in his legs, and lack of air in his lungs. His green eyes glanced towards the strange houses as steam and smoke rose from their rooftops. He tried to maintain a steady pace and slow, rhythmic breathing as he ran through the lush valley. It didn't take them long to reach the Guild, even if Harry's pace was slower with the dampener. He met Blaze at the large wooden doors and tried to speak, but he decided it'd be better if he was breathing correctly before he tried anything else.

Blaze saw the young man's distress and said, "Cross your hand behind your head and pace back and forth." Harry did and felt the tightness in his chest lessen. He looked to the elemental for further explanation. "Holding your hands above your head helps remove extra weight from your chest, and opens your lungs. The walking helps you heart rate slow gradually. Didn't they teach you this in a physical education course?" Harry shook his head. "Oh right, Wizards don't believe in physical training."

After a few minutes Harry was almost back to normal. His legs were a little unsteady, but he was able to breath again. Harry looked to the Guild and remembered that it was used for training, so he asked, "Why didn't we just fire travel here, then run in the Guild. Wouldn't that save us time?"

"No, that would be a very bad experience. The Guild is only used for elemental training, and light weapons work."

"Why is that?"

"Remember how I told you everything you do in the Guild won't effect you until you leave?" Harry nodded, already knowing the answer. "Good, now imagine that you just ran for eight hours, but you didn't feel it. Now the second you step away from the Guild those eight hours are compacted into a single second." Harry winced at the thought. His thirty-minute jog was hard enough. "The most likely outcome would be heart failure, or worse."

Harry nodded in understanding and said, "Right, no running in the Guild."

"Right." Said, Blaze. He noticed Harry was still having a little trouble breathing and told him to remove the stone from around his neck. Instantly Harry felt reenergized. The ache in his legs lessened, until it was almost none existent, and he felt he could breath regularly again. After a minute or two, Blaze told Harry to put the necklace back on. After Harry was ready to continue the pair walked home, discussing Harry's training.

"Every morning you will run to the Guild. You should probably go as early as you can, because it would be easier without everyone milling about." Blaze said, as Harry just nodded. "Once you get back we'll have a healthy breakfast for you." Blaze looked over Harry's thin frame. "Well maybe something with a little more fat, and protein then normal. How'd you get to be so skinny?"

Harry didn't want to tell him that his relatives had starved him, so he just said, "I don't know. I guess I've always been this way."

"Well, alright," Blaze said, not sound too convinced, "but you'll need fuel if you plan on building some muscle while you're here."

"Sure." Harry said, "What other type of exercise are you going to make me do?"

Blaze laughed, "Make you do? Don't you want to learn to control your elements?"

"Yeah but I don't really see how physical training has anything to do with my magical. At Hogwarts there was nothing like this. You didn't have to be in peak physical condition just to cast a charm, or block a curse. It was all through your magical technique and power. Why is that you have to train, physically, just to control the air." Harry said, surprising himself. He didn't have a problem with the training he just wanted to understand it all.

"Well aside from the obvious benefits. Like strength, endurance, and the flock of female admirers?" Harry colored slightly and nodded. "It has to do with your elemental training. For some unknown reason the better shape you're in the less likely you'll be to tire when using your elements. If you don't train physically you'll still have the same control, but the lack of endurance to be truly great."

Harry nodded and said, "So what other exercise will I be doing for my own benefit."

Blaze chuckled and looked to Harry, "After your morning run, which over time will get better, you'll have that fattening breakfast, and archery training with Isis. You won't start training with your sword, or daggers for a few weeks yet. After training with Isis you'll be with me. We'll be doing push-ups, sit-up, and pull-ups. Also some other various light weight exercise." Harry looked worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up, but Blaze said. "Don't worry about it. You're not in bad shape as it is, and I don't expect you to be a body builder. This is just for building on what you already have."

Harry nodded. As he thought about all the Quidditch training he's done. He wasn't really out of shape; this was just a more scheduled routine. He wasn't over weight, so that wasn't an issue. He would gain a thin layer of muscle easily, with a good diet, and some light training. All in all the teen felt rather good about his soon to come physical changes. He wouldn't be the little weak Harry Potter anymore. He decided to take his running and lightweight training seriously. This was for him, after all.

As their fitness conversation ended they passed through the main market area as a few people started to open their shops. No one even glanced towards Harry, either they were too preoccupied to glare, or they were ignoring him. Either way Harry felt better about this change, even if it was temporary.

As Harry and Blaze stepped onto a forest path, they passed an elderly earth elemental. The man was dressed in deep green, and had piercing brown eyes. He looked to Blaze then down at Harry and muttered, "Filthy wizard." Blaze looked like he wanted to say something put Harry didn't even seem to acknowledge it, so the fire elemental just continued walking.

"I'm sorry about all this." Blaze said gesturing towards the retreating earth elemental. "I know they would react badly, but this is just wrong, and I fear it's only going to get worse."

"It's okay." Harry said.

"No, It's not! We're supposed to be the enlightened ones. Supposed to protect all of natures creatures." He sighed. "It's rather hypocritical that most elementals deem wizards less than human. I'm sorry that you're going to have a difficult stay here."

"It's alright….really. I'm used to the staring, the muttering, and the all to common glaring. Not that I like it mind, but in some ways it's better than the Wizarding world."

"How? Aren't you adored there?"

"By some, but I still hate all the attention. They want too much from me. I'm only a kid, how can the entire population expect so much from someone so young? They think I'm some sort of Hero. I haven't done anything to deserve their admiration. I've only tried to survive, and help my friends." He sighed and turned to Blaze, who looked as if he wanted to say something. "Here I still have the stares, and the muttering, but at least they don't expect me to save them. To be perfect. I'm not, and I don't want to be." He stopped walking and looked down again. In a quiet, almost sullen voice, he said, "Here I might be disliked, here I might be hated, but at least I can be myself."

"Uhh…right." Was the only response the older man had. It took him a moment to formulate a response. "Harry, I don't really know much about how the Wizarding world treats you, but I do know how my people have. I'm truly sorry about it. I promise to give you all the opportunities to be yourself. We won't put high expectations on you, but I would like to see you succeed."

"Thanks." Harry said as he stepped over a small brook. "That really means a lot."

For a while nothing was said between them. Each seemed to be lost in their thoughts. As they walked at a medium pace, Harry studied the land. Trying to decipher its beauty, and understand its intricacies. He wanted to know his new home like he knew Hogwarts. Instead of moving staircases, and secret passages, he had to learn of: the many creeks, the small dirt paths, and they best route for escapes. As they passed through a brilliantly green bamboo forest, Harry knew he'd like it here. Even with the knowledge of the towns prejudice towards him. He knew he could prove himself, he knew he could succeed here.

As Harry and Blaze made their way home. He could see the twins stretching near the end of the path. "Why are you starting so late? I know you hadn't over slept." Blaze inquired.

Sam looked up towards his father, then to his brother. "I guess my mind was up in the air this morning." Harry looked confused at first. Then looked at Bill who was smirking. Blaze knew exactly what he was talking about.

"How long did he hold you up for?"

"Hold me?" He gave a strangled chuckle. "He carried me outside then spun me around. I became the fiery tornado by force."

Bill looked over to his father, the his brother and said, "He deserved it."

Blaze just laughed and said, "I'm sure he did." Harry was trying to suppress a laugh, but failed, and began chucking slightly.

"Think it's funny do you?" Asked Bill.

"Yeah a little, but I think having Isis yell at you was better." Harry said, answering honestly.

"See I told you that was better than your little air stunt. At least someone else saw that." Said Sam proudly.

Bill looked a little angry at first then a familiar mischievous smile spread across his face as looked at Harry. "I'm sure you'd think it was more funny if you saw it first hand." He raised his hands and Harry could sense the air obeying his command.

Blaze said, "Bill don't, Harry can't defend himself yet."

As the senior fire elemental said this Harry pulled his concealed wand and lazily flicked it upwards as he said, "Impedimenta." The spell shot towards Bill at an alarming rate and struck him as his eyes widened fully. He stopped moving, as if frozen. Sam took one look at his brother and fell over laughing.

As he was on the ground he managed to look up to his father and say, "Defenseless?"

Blaze tried to look serious and said, "Harry you shouldn't do Wizards magic here. If it was in front of another elemental you'd be in a lot of trouble."

"I know, Isis said it was alright to do in front of you, but no one else. I didn't know what he was going to do. It's just instinct." Harry said in his defense.

Blaze chuckled and said, "Alright but could you release him please?"

"Uhh sure." Harry flicked his wand and said, "Finite."

Bill blinked a few times and looked to Harry. "I was just fooling I swear. I wouldn't use an attack on someone who hasn't been trained. I just wanted to scare you a bit, for a laugh and all."

Sam was still on the ground. "Scare him?" He laughed harder. "You should have seen your face." He stood up, tried to act scared, held his hands up and in mocking manner and opened his eyes wide. Then dissolved into giggles again.

"Oh ha ha, very funny." He flicked his hand and Sam flipped over.

"HEY." He yelled indignantly.

"You deserved it." Said Blaze and he walked inside. Harry followed closely in his wake.

"You'll have to show us some more Wizard's magic Harry." Said Sam.

"Yeah I bet it could help a lot with pranks and such." Said Bill almost too enthusiastically.

"Er…yeah I'll have to think about that." Harry said as he walked through the front door. The second he entered he was greeted with the unforgettable smell of a freshly made breakfast. Blaze was true to his word when he said Harry should eat more. He made sure the teen ate enough for a young man twice his size.

After breakfast Isis told Harry to get his bow and quiver of arrows. He did so feeling excited about the prospect of learning to shoot. He heard about archery, and actually read an article or two, but never had he actually seen it done. Harry grabbed his bow and strapped the quiver to his back. He headed downstairs to meet Isis.

He found her around back with her quiver of arrows000, and a white bow strapped to her back. Harry was still wearing the dampener and decided he should keep it on until he was told otherwise. He tucked the stone under his shirt and walked towards Isis. She turned to greet him with a smile and said, "Have you ever shot an arrow before?"

"No, but I have read something about it."

"Well that's better than nothing." She said. "Come here and watch." Harry followed her into to the forest where a target range was set up. She removed an arrow from the quiver placed it on the string with perfect precision, smoothly pulled back, aimed, and let go. The arrow whizzed through the air and hit the closest target dead center.

"Wow." Harry said as he had just witnessed perfect grace and form.

"Now you try. Aim for the same target. I want you to do just as I did and we'll work on the flaws in your technique as I see them."

Harry nodded and pulled an arrow from the quiver. His hands were slightly unsteady as he placed the arrow on the string. "Calm yourself. There's no pressure here." He heard Isis say. He closed his eyes and opened them as he let out a calming breath. He pulled back on the string, aimed, and let go. The arrow didn't travel nearly as fast as his teachers, but it hit just beside hers.

"That was great Harry. Now Blaze said you still had the dampener could you put it on for me?"

Harry looked at her for a second and pulled the emerald from his collar. "I still have it on. I wasn't sure if I should take it off, so I left it on. Was I supposed to take it off?"

Isis was amazed. Never had she heard of someone actually hitting a target on his or her first try, and this boy had the aim of an experienced archer. "No…no Harry that's great. I just didn't think you'd do so well while wearing it." She paused looking at the target again. "Okay aim for the same spot, and remember there's nothing to be worried about." Isis wanted to make sure Harry's first shot wasn't a fluke, and had to see him shoot again before she was sure.

Harry pulled another arrow, this time with more confidence; he drew the string back smoothly, and let go. Again the arrow flew through the air, this time with a much more force and struck the target right next to the previous two.

"Harry this is great." Beamed Isis. "I've only heard about natural archers, but now I've seen it. Keep practicing, I'll stop you if I see anything wrong."

For the next hour Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself. Arrow after arrow struck the target with practiced precision. He couldn't believe how much he enjoyed this. Over the course of the hour his aim became better, but the distance in which he could propel the arrow was somewhat limited. He was sure with some physical training he could pull harder, but for now this was fine.

To say Isis was impressed would be an extreme understatement. It took her months before she had Harry's consistency. She couldn't wait to bring him to the next archery tournament. "Alright Harry I think we've seen what you can do with the dampener on. I'd like to see what you can do without it."

"Alright." Harry said as he removed the stone from his neck and placed it on the stool next to him. "Which target should I go for?"

"Go for the closest one. Fire five arrows at the very center of the target."

"Alright." Harry said again as he fired another arrow. This time it was different. The second the arrow left the bow he felt the ability to change it's path, speed it up, and make it move. The arrow hit dead center of the target just like Isis had. He pulled back another arrow and fired. This one took the same path striking the first arrow and splitting it in two.

Isis spoke up at this, "Harry that was brilliant, but try not to ruin the arrows. I don't think we have time to make anymore today. We'll use the Guild for that, but you're not ready yet."

"Sure, sorry." Harry replied sheepishly.

"Oh there's nothing to be sorry about, that was amazing." Said smiling brightly. She thought she'd enjoy being a mentor, but training Harry was great.

Harry fired the next three arrows, each within close proximity of the others. "You're doing great Harry. Just remember to pull back smoothly, and release when you're ready." Harry nodded as he collected the undamaged arrows.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Harry practiced archery for another half hour and had a short rest before lunch. After his stomach was settled he and Blaze went about the other physical exercises. Harry pushed himself as far as he could. Trying show that he really had an interest in learning, and training. He didn't want Blaze to think that he was just a stereotypical Wizard that hated anything physical.

After dinner Harry was too exhausted to do anything else. He excused himself and pulled himself up the stairs. As his head hit the pillow his only thought was, 'I really hope this doesn't feel worse tomorrow.'

Author's Note:

Sorry about the extreme delay. I've made some big changes to Quadril, with the help of my beta Volo. If you have ever read this story, you must start over. I'm sorry. Since the latest update chapters 1-4 have been modified. This is for originality purposes. If you would like the story in .pdf format, Chapters 1-5 are available for download at my website. Just click the link for the download page.

Thank you for reading, and I would appreciate reviews.

Heroic.


	6. Morning Run

As the first morning light filtered through the strange glass window, Harry woke groaning slightly. He stayed in the same position, without opening his eyes, trying to evaluate how the last three weeks had been. He lay still thinking in his room, which had changed a bit since he first came to stay in Quadril. It was no longer plain and boring. The Hays family had painted the furniture blue and gray, so Harry would feel more comfortable. His weapons, which stayed unused with the exception of his bow, sat in one corner polished and ready. His new clothes, clean and dirty, were tossed carelessly around the room like your average teenagers. Harry was happy to call this place his. He knew that the home belonged to Blaze and Isis, but they made him feel like he belonged.

The teen stretched and yawned as he stumbled out of bed, wincing slightly as his bare feet made contact with the chilled stone. His body wanted him to climb back into the comforting warmth of his sheets and sleep the morning away, but his mind knew this wasn't an option. With his eyes still closed he felt for his glasses. Once his fingers wrapped around the familiar spectacles he placed them on the bridge of his nose. Slowly opening his eyes he saw the first signs of light and groaned, "It can't be legal to feel this bad on such a nice day."

He stretched again feeling the tightness in his shoulders lessen. Blaze had really thrown a lot at him the day before. The fire elemental was really anxious to teach Harry how to use a sword, but still didn't feel the young man was ready. To compensate, he had Harry doing multiple upper body exercises, which left him feeling drained and sore. Harry grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, his normal running attire, and headed towards the bathroom.

He took a longer shower than normal, letting the warm, relaxing water melt away his lingering pain. After being thoroughly cleansed and pruned, he stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Standing in front of the opaque, steamy mirror, Harry took a casual swipe at its glassy surface to reveal his reflection.

He still had his unusually bright eyes and jet-black hair, but looking closely he could see a few gray amongst the dark mass. What caught his attention were the muscles he seemed to be developing. His chest and arms were more defined, not perfect, but noticeable. He was still thin, still scrawny compared to most, but he had an athletic build. Recently he noticed he was getting stronger, and his endurance was building rapidly. His morning runs extended well past the Guild. He had found more trails and paths making his run more enjoyable, and entertaining. He didn't mind wearing the dampener anymore; he didn't even notice it since he wore it constantly. It was his abdomen was the most prominent. His growing stomach muscles were easily seen on his thin frame. Overall Harry felt a lot better about his appearance. He thought about going back to Hogwarts and not being the skinny little kid anymore. It gave him something to look forward to.

He dressed quickly and stopped in his room to grab his bow and quiver. Isis had him run with the bow almost constantly. She wanted him to be comfortable with it at all times. For the first week or so he felt it was a bother, ruining his rhythm, but he soon became accustomed to it. Everyday after a large percentage of his run he would stop and practice his archery at a small range he found during one of his many after dinner exploring adventures.

After three weeks of being the model citizen, nothing much had changed. He was still stared at, mocked, and insulted, but it wasn't something that bothered him. True it would have been better without the rude gestures, but there wasn't any real harm done. No one had actually done anything physically to him. He would do his best to ignore them and carry on with whatever he was doing and one or more the Hays family would always accompany Harry from one place to another during the day. The only time he was allowed to venture out on his own was the very early mornings. Even then the twins were usually with him, but only when they were up in time.

Harry walked through front door, and stretched briefly. He took off running at a medium jog. He was proud of how far he'd come in three weeks. He was able too keep pace with Blaze and Sam for a short time, but Isis and Bill were still much faster. Harry thought it was unfair to compare his speed to theirs, since neither of them wore a dampener.

It took him a short while to get into the empty market. He liked it best at this time. It looked peaceful, like something out of fairytale. 'Well,' he thought, 'it would still look like a fairytale with all the people, except for the cursing, glares, and rude hand gestures.' After a few more minutes and a lot more panting Harry reached the Guild. He took a moment to catch his breath and then headed back in different direction.

He ran through the woods, jumping over fallen trees, and leaping over tiny brooks. The narrow winding paths increased his agility as well as his stamina. He dodged trees and ducked low branches, while he maintained the same speed. Unknowingly progressing his training faster by making it something he enjoyed.

Harry stopped and rested when he reached the archery range. This had soon become his favorite place in Quadril. It was deep within the woods and hardly anyone knew it existed, according to the twins. He drew his bow, and fired an arrow at the nearest target, which was hidden deep within a brilliantly green valley. He pulled in another arrow and released, it whizzed by the first target and hit the second with a resounding crack.

Harry felt a small smile pull upon his lips as he fired his last arrow. He really enjoyed archery. So far it was the only part of his training he truly cherished. It wasn't the fact it was a weapon, or some destructive urge. It was the control and concentration that drew him in. He liked knowing that the slightest movement could change the path of his arrow. The tiniest miscalculation would cause him to miss. He liked that it was difficult for most, and he was naturally skilled in the art. It was something that was his own; it was the same way he felt about flying, but on a lesser scale.

Harry swung his bow across his back and walked towards the targets. He needed to collect his arrows so he could return home. Walking a little slowly as he took in his surroundings, Harry reached the first target. He pulled out the three bulls-eye hits and carefully placed the arrows in the quiver. As he finished gathering the last of his arrows he heard a very familiar sound break the tranquil silence of the archery range. Harry knew that sound, he'd become very accustomed to it. Every day he heard it, every time he let an arrow go, he heard that familiar twang.

Harry looked up just in time to see an arrow heading toward his left shoulder. As his eyes widened and his pulse quickened, he felt the world slow. The arrow seemed almost suspended in air. He slowly turned, as its deadly tip glinted in the morning sun. It's perfectly crafted tail feathers ruffled slightly as it sped towards its target. Time returned to normal as Harry made a grab for the arrow. With lightening fast reflexes his right hand darted forward and grabbed the arrow as it pierced his shoulder.

He screamed in pain as he felt the metal tip hit bone. He slowed the arrow enough from doing permanent damage, but not enough to stop it completely. With his hand shaking slightly he slowly removed the arrow. Even though it caused more pain, there was less chance of further injury. After removing the arrow he scrambled behind the nearest tree. He knew who ever fired it couldn't have done it by accident. They had been too close, and air elementals were notorious for their perfect aim.

Harry looked at his left shoulder to inspect the wound. Brilliantly red blood slowly flowed from the inch long laceration traveling down his arm and dripping to the forest floor. Using the bloody arrow, he cut a temporary bandage from the bottom of his T-shirt. He lightly laid the fabric against his skin and nearly screamed as he placed enough pressure to stop the bleeding. He tied a strong knot to keep it in place as he examined his surroundings in search of who has shot at him.

His green eyes scanned the forest landscape to see a group of five teens. They looked slightly older than Harry, maybe by a couple years. Three were earth elementals, and two were air. Only one had his bow in hand. He had an arrow lightly drawn and the bow faced down. It was a position for firing quickly.

Harry still held on to the idea that people are fundamentally good, that a group of teenagers wouldn't just hunt someone down for something so petty as prejudice, but Harry wasn't stupid. He pulled some branches around him and hid beneath the foliage. He felt so stupid that he left his wand in his room. He always left it now. He didn't want to accidentally use magic and endanger himself further, but it didn't seem to help now. He slowed his breathing, trying to regain his composure and gather his wits.

Harry listened closely as he buried himself further.

"Are you sure you hit him?" asked the unarmed air elemental.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Said the one holding the weapon, "I never miss." He proclaimed arrogantly. 'Now that's a Malfoy statement if I've ever heard one.' Harry thought.

"Then where's the blood?" Accused the first air elemental, as if he'd found the missing piece of evidence. "A shot like that, at this range would have shattered his shoulder. You were going for that weren't you? There would be blood everywhere, especially with a wound that deep."

Now Harry was angry, these 'boys' intended to harm him. He knew the shot was deliberate, but he hoped, no, he prayed for the decency of man that he was wrong. After coming face to face with Voldemort he knew how bad a person could go, but this was heart wrenching. He did nothing to these people; he didn't even know their names, but they didn't care about him. He meant nothing. They were taught from birth that Wizards are subhuman, they were less than nothing, they were worthless, and definitely unfit to walk the earth. That's what this Elemental culture screamed. The very fiber of hatred was deeply woven into every aspect of their world, and Harry was sick of it. He knew he had to do something. They'd find him eventually, and he'd be damned if they found him hiding like a coward.

The first thing he did was remove the dampener. Carefully he placed it in his pocket, and slowly rose to full height. His left arm trembled with pain, as his body told him to let it drop, but he had no choice. He removed his bow and drew an arrow. Slowly, and silently pulling back on the string. He fought through the pain and stepped from behind the tree. Twenty yards ahead the group of boys stood, hatred oozing from their souls.

Instantly the armed air elemental drew his arrow, ready to fire. He looked at Harry and saw a perfect stance. 'He can handle a bow, and well,' he thought surprised, but he didn't show it.

Harry spoke in a deathly calm, ice cold tone, "Let me leave." Those three words hung in the air laced with hidden threats.

At first there was no real reaction. The opposing group stood still, their faces betraying nothing. The silence was frustrating, even the birds had stopped chirping. Harry knew he had to do something. He had to leave; he had to get a way. 'This is not where I want to be,' he thought, 'it's five on one, and I haven't been trained. I can't win this.'

So he said again, "Let me leave." This raised some type of reaction from the group. The largest earth elemental spoke first, as his is dark beady eyes darted towards Harry's injured shoulder.

"He can't fire the bow Cise, disable his other arm." He sneered without emotion, without fear.

The air elemental 'Cise,' fired without hesitation. The arrow sped towards Harry's right shoulder and he had less than a moment to react. His emerald eyes locked on to the dangerous projectile and Harry fired. The two arrows collided mid-flight. Harry's arrow snapped the other elementals in half, and let its sharp tip fall harmlessly to the forest floor, where it stuck embedded in the dirt.

Everyone froze. The shot was beyond probable; it wasn't even considered possible. The archery the group had just witnessed was something of legend, and they knew it. The prejudice teens seemed to suddenly be made of stone, each of their eyes upon the broken arrow lying in the dirt. Even Harry was momentarily stunned, but he quickly regained his senses.

Harry knew his odds were low if he stayed to gawk at a shattered arrow. So he did something he wouldn't normally do; he ran. His legs carrying faster than he ever dreamt possible. Without the dampener he flew through the forest, around trees, under branches, over brooks and large rocks. He ran as if his life depended on it.

As he neared the village Harry heard, and felt something he'd never forget. A loud cracking, popping, and groaning filled the air. The earth shook and trembled as Harry looked behind him, the forest was splitting as a fissure formed and sped towards him. It was small at first but as it gained on Harry it grew, throwing plants, trees, and earth in all directions to get to the wizard. The outnumbered teen increased his speed, pushing himself well beyond his known limits. He could only imagine himself looking a blur as he passed the many trees, but the fissure was still gaining and fast. The growing crevice ripped a hole beneath Harry's feet. As his right foot sunk into the earth he slammed face first into the forest floor. The last thing Harry remembered before darkness enveloped him was the familiar copper taste of blood consuming his senses.

Not long after Harry was brought back to consciousness by the sound of his own painful screams, and the sadistic laughter of teenage elementals. His green eyes snapped open as he tried to find his bearings. His glasses had been cracked and battered making it difficult to see. His blurry gaze fell upon an earth elemental, who looked proud, as if he'd caught his first fish. Harry found it disturbing to have someone look at him as if he was their prey. The earth elemental stopped smirking at Harry momentarily and looked towards the boy who had fired the arrow. "Here he is Cise ask him."

"How'd you hit the arrow?" he spat. "I'm the best archer around here, that's why they call me Precise, I don't miss, and I wouldn't have missed that shot," he confessed. "No one could hit that under any circumstances. Was it your corrupt from of Magic?" He shouted as his anger rose. Just the thought of someone being better made his stomach churn, but this was worse. Harry was a wizard, less than human, scum, and he was beaten by that. He needed to know the boy cheated, he had to know.

Harry looked towards him, his eyes only showing pain. "It wasn't magic."

The earth elemental growled, "Liar!" As the earth began to close. Harry felt the severe pressure threatening to crush his leg as he closed his eyes and bit his lip trying not to scream. The pain was intense but bearable. "Tell us the truth!" He thundered as the earth trembled. The other boys laughed as Harry's eyes watered involuntarily.

Harry looked up at him and nearly whispered, "I am." He knew answering honestly would have consequences, but saying he used magic would have been worse.

The elemental yelled something incoherent and the fissure began to close. This was torture for Harry. He didn't know what to do; there was nothing he could consciously do. These elementals were stronger and actually trained to control their elements, Harry was trapped.

The earth wanted to close, it wanted to join, and Harry's leg wasn't going to stop it. The pain intensified as the earth seemed to heal. The many cracks and small fissures began to close until only the hole around Harry's leg was left. The earth elemental looked down at Harry one more time and smiled. Not something cheerful, not kind, and most definitely not friendly. It was sick and sadistic. Something a madman would flash his latest victim before their dying breath.

The crack widened, just barely, releasing some of the pressure. Harry didn't relax, he knew something horrible was coming, but whatever it was he wouldn't show fear. The earth elemental held his hands open with his palms towards the forest floor and sneered, "I hope you don't need that leg." He quickly curled his hands into a fist and slammed them together. The earth responded in the same. Harry groaned as he felt his fibula snap. As the earth continued to close, threatening to amputate Harry's leg and instinct took over.

As his bones broke Harry saw blue. Bright blue flames rolled off his body to the forest floor, melting the earth around him. He didn't feel the heat; he didn't feel anything besides his right leg throbbing. Harry looked to the teens that were now afraid; they weren't finding this fun anymore. He closed his eyes and pulled himself free with a primal scream. He stood slowly putting all his weight on his left leg. The blue flames intensified around him, rippling from his shoulders towards the low-lying green foliage below. He turned his emerald gaze towards the boys, who took one look at the blue inferno, and ran. Harry sank to a knee as the flames faded. He maneuvered towards the nearest tree and rested against it. His thoughts were consumed with what had transpired. He had no idea what happened. It was as if he didn't do anything, it was just a way out and his body found it.

After a few minutes Harry grabbed a fallen branch, which he used as a cane and made his way towards the market. His progress was slow, but that was to be expected. The pain in his leg was bearable if he held it above the ground. Nearly all his weight was focused on the branch that he found. Harry limped down the dirt path; avoiding the small obstacles with difficulty, and nearly rejoiced as his makeshift cane hit the cobble stone path.

After Harry's jog, archery practice, and his run in with the thugs, it was now mid morning. Elementals were running from shop to shop, gathering this and that. They hurried along so the rest of their day was open to more meaningful tasks besides getting bread. Harry tried to move quickly through the crowd, trying to go unseen. Even though he stayed out of the main crowds and kept his head down he was noticed. At first it was just a few odd glances, then a mumbled word here and there. It soon escalated to full sentences and almost joyous expressions. Harry felt disgusted. He didn't actually know how bad he looked, but it couldn't be good, and these people were happy. Happy to see him in pain, to see him injured, to see him looking so frail. 'I hate these people,' Harry thought bitterly as he caught his reflection in a shop window.

His messy hair was covered with a mixture of dirt and leaves, making it worse than normal. His glasses were ruined and had cut his cheek as they shattered against his skin. A thin trail of crimson blood stood out drastically against his abnormally pale completion as it ran down his face towards his chin. The field dressed wound on his shoulder was bleeding through the bandage, but it was holding. He couldn't see his leg in the glass, but decided he didn't want to look. He knew it was bad, but he thought seeing it would make it hurt worse.

As Harry continued back to the house he tried to ignore the constant taunts and muttered sentences.

"Looks like the filth got what he deserved…"

"I was thinking about doing that for…"

"What a disgrace, look at the state of him…"

The taunts hurt worse than Harry's physical pain, but none so much as the small girl he'd seen on his first day. She turned to him and made brief eye contact, then muttered, "Wizard waste," as she looked towards her mother, who smiled encouragingly.

His emotions pressed him to spill tears, but he refused. He fought against every taunt, every glare. He tried to think of something good that could come from this, but there was nothing. His thoughts dropped to despair as a passing elemental spat at his feet. His eyes threatened to tear again, but he squashed it. He wouldn't cry in front of them. He wouldn't give him that satisfaction. At this point he was feeling grateful that no one had physically hurt him further. 'It wouldn't be hard,' he thought sadly, 'to finish me off right now. I am defenseless and no one here would stop them.'

He continued walking with his head down, fighting the tears that would soon come. He looked at the last shop, which happened to be the clothing store, made brief eye contact with Notus and limped on. His heart nearly broke as she let him pass without even an encouraging glance. Her face was expressionless, cold. She was the only citizen of Quadril that was truly kind to him besides the Hays family, and now she did nothing for him. She didn't even ask if he was all right. 'She's just another one of them,' he thought as his feet touched the forest path. It was sure to be the start of a very difficult walk for someone limping and bleeding.


End file.
